綺麗傷 - Beautiful Scars
by RedTheAmazing
Summary: Being hunted by a demon king, having a legacy, and making friends was not an easy thing for her. She preferred to stay hidden from everyone while she still could. [Eventually Ryūji(Bon) x OC. ]
1. Nulla

**Hey guys~~ What is up~**

… ***looks around* 'Ello? **

**Yeah I'm alone... Enjoy this little thing of whatever..**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist! Only my OC's**

**. . .**

This is the story of Ryan Werstine. An American who transferred to Japan to learn about demons. Demons, you say? Yes. Demons. The ones that lurk around at night. Yes, those ones.

Any who, she didn't want to be here to learn about Demons, oh heavens no. She just wanted a normal life. That's all she wanted, but she got this. Of course, she found it unfair and stupid that her parents had a legacy that ran though her blood as well as her twin sister and her older brother. She was destined for greatness, if you'd like to say that.

But little did she know, she was about to be thrown into something that would show to be quiet a ride.

She'll be shown true love,

True loss,

True pleasure,

True pain,

True life,

And true death.

The adventure has started.

Make your move.

**. . . **

**Tell me what you think guys!**

**Guys...?**

**(BTW this is a BonxOC fic)**

**EDIT: I changed her name to Ryan. Wanted to make it more realistic. **


	2. I

_The future is scary, but don't run back to your past because it's familiar.._

_-Ritu Ghatourey_

**. . .**

**I**

**. . .**

Ryan looked up at the new school, scared by the fact that it was much different from what her sister had made it out to be.

"Rosie? Are you sure this is our school?"

Her brunette sister nodded and smiled brightly.

"Yeah, this is the school: True Cross Academy."

"Oh joy, an Academy..." Ryan sighed as she looked around at the snobby rich kids that walked around. She wasn't gonna enjoy this. She merely sighed and scratched the back of her head, then ran her fingers through her blue-tipped brown hair.

Ryan walked with her twin around the school, just looking around and finding their assigned classes. It was a very simple task, but Ryan already felt lost even with the help of Rosie. When the bell rang, and Rosie waved goodbye to go to class, she got lost instantly. _Oh, fuck..._ was all she thought as she looked at her class list and started to walk down the hall to find the number of her mandatory home room.

English. It was English. Man, did she hate English with a fiery passion, even though she liked the books that were required. She and English had a love/hate relationship. Actually, almost everyone she knew had that type of relationship with English.

The bell rang right as she stepped inside the classroom. The teacher sat at her desk looking through some papers of who-knew-what. Ryan silently slipped onto a seat way in the back, without being noticed or heard as all the other students mingled upon themselves. It was easy for her to sneak in since the kids were actually yelling at each other across the room and laughing randomly at how loud they were. Finally, ten minuets after the bell rang, the teacher raised her voice to get the teenagers to calm down.

"Morning, students!" The kids mumbled lightly. "Quiet down! Put your phone away! Yes: you, Blondie! I don't care if you're texting your dying dog: put it away." The kids laughed lightly as the girl put her phone in her bag with an embarrassed look. "Again: morning, class! I'm you advanced English 10 teacher Mrs. Takahashi and I will ruin your life", she said with a funny smile, and everyone knew she was joking. "Nah, actually, you won't have that much homework in my class, 'cause I hate homework as much as you do. If anything, the only tests you'll have are the Mid-terms and the Finals and a few little quizzes." She looked though her papers again. "But, anyway! I'm gonna take roll. Answer with a simple 'here' or 'hey' and we'll be okay!" She started to go down the list of names till she hit Ryan's; who was the last one on the list.

_So freaking stupid..._ Ryan rested her head in her hand and dozed off with her eyes closed.

"Now, class; I'm gonna pair you into groups of two since we have an even number of students. These people you are about to be paired with will be your forever partner in this class. You can't change to be with friends since that's unfair to others." She looked down at her roll list. "Now let's pair you ugly people with some more ugly people."

_So this teacher is a joker,_ Ryan spaced out again until she felt something flick her forehead.

"Bah!" She jumped in her seat and looked at the weird male in front of her. At least his hair was cool. And pink.

"Well, hello there!" He took a seat next to her and smiled. "I'm Shima Renzo."

"Ryan Werstine." She scratched her forehead. "And I've got no clue as to what's going on." She looked around as the teacher started to talk.

"This entire hour-and-a-half you guys will spend getting to know your life-partners. We don't want any divorces in here so learn their likes and dislikes and everything else in between." Once Mrs. Takahashi returned to her desk to continue to file papers, everyone started to talk to their newly assessed partners about themselves.

Ryan stayed quiet; she wasn't really into things like this, but her partner went on and on about himself. She got stuck in her own little world of reminding herself of her violin notes and classical symphonies that she could and wanted to play. She was awakened from her trance when Shima bumped her shoulder.

"So how about you?" She sighed, and went through the list of things she could tell him in her mind.

"I'm 15 years old – I turn 16 in a month or so. I play the violin and my family is... upper class." When she didn't talk for a few minuets after that, Shima knew one more thing about her; she was silent and secretive.

"You play the violin?"

"Ever since I turned six. It's my favorite instrument along with the harp."

"What other instruments do you play?" He was interested in the girl.

"Just the violin." Another moment of silence.

"So, I take it you listen to classical music?"

"Most of my collection is, yes, but I have a few rock and indie records." Shima finally noticed she was looking at him directly; no more looking down at her desk. He was making progress.

Then the teacher decided to butt in: "Alright class! We have at least fifteen minutes before the bell rings and I want to talk to you about your first assignment in this class." The kids groaned. "Oh, come on! It's not that bad! I just want you to find a book – fiction – and bring it tomorrow to read in class. After you do that, we'll go into detail on what you're going to do from there." The bell rang. "Get out of here, you filthy people." Ryan got up, tossed her bag over her shoulder, and grabbed the case that sat at her feet. Shima looked at her pick it up and guessed it was the violin she had been talking about.

"Hey, Ryan!" She looked at the pinked haired boy. "How about we hang out at lunch?"

"Can't. I promised my sister I would eat with her friends," she smiled. "Maybe next time, yeah?"

"Like, tomorrow?"

"Don't push your luck, Shima!" She walked off to her next class. During the time it took to get there, her sister managed to catch up to her.

"You going to band next?" Ryan nodded to her twin.

"Yeah: they needed violinists, so they got one." The two walked through the halls of the classy, crowded school all the way to the large band room where musicians chatted, adjusted their instruments' tune, or practiced.

Rosie hugged her: "See you at lunch!" she said, running off to her next class and leaving Ryan to practice.

The whole class was just a sit-and-talk type of class. They didn't have any important performances till mid-year, which gave both the teachers and the students time to get acquainted with each other and practice. Ryan just sat in a chair in the middle of the class as she took out her electric violin and her portable mini amp and recording pedal. She plugged in everything and set up her station. The class had exactly an hour and a half, which was enough time to play a song.

"Hello there, sis." She looked up at Dominic – her older brother – then looked back down.

"You here for the piano part?"

"You bet ya'", she smirked.

"You know you suck at the piano, Dom."

"And you suck at the violin." What a lame comeback; but it was still something, right?

Wrong.

"If you calculate it correctly, I've been playing an instrument longer than you even if you're older than me." She pulled out her bow and drew it across the strings. "You've been playing since you were ten, and I have been playing since I was six. Do the math, Dom. It's simple."

Dom sat there for a while trying to figure out how many years there were between them when it came to music. "Dom", he looked at her as she tuned her strings then scratched the bow across them, "there's a good four year difference. You subtract ten from six and you get four." She sat up straight. "Now will you let me work, please?" Dom rolled his eyes and walked off to a piano where other girls were. He was a horrible flirt.

She started to play one of her favorite songs on the violin and filled it with as much emotion as she could. She closed her eyes and started to sway as she pressed down on the pedal to record certain parts, then she started to overlap it with other parts. She played the song for a full ten minutes before she opened her eyes to see that her brother sat in front of her in awe.

"I can't believe you learned that song!"

"Coldplay's Viva la Vida wasn't that hard to learn. If you'd practice like I do you could play it on the piano." She looked around to the clock. "How long was I playing?"

"A good thirty minuets. The teachers are gonna pass out some sheets for us to learn."

"Most of them are basic, I'm sure." She sighed and put her violin away.

"OKAY CLASS!"

Let the class begin.

**. . .**

After band came trigonometry, then P.E., then lunch. P.E. made her tired and not hungry but as soon as she saw her sister holding two lunch bags (she lost things easily), she became hungry. She loved her mother's cooking.

"You look tired."

"Physical Education has nothing to do with learning and more to do with staying fit. They don't want obese people rolling around the school." She looked at Rosie and smiled.

"Come on, I have friends who want to meet you." Ryan raised an eyebrow. She never liked Rosie's friends, and her friends never liked her.

"People want to meet _me_? That's a first." She adjusted the straps of her violin case on her shoulder and followed her sister to the hangout she was walking towards. The weather was pleasant, but windy wich messed up Rosie's hair a bit. Ryan walked on the stone tiles that seemed newly weeded and the grassed was freshly mowed from the smell of it. Rosie led her to a large shady tree where the leaves were starting to turn for upcoming fall weather.

"Hey, Rin!" Ryan looked at her sister as she hugged the boy from behind for a quick second.

"What no love for us!?"

"Nope!" Rosie popped the P at the end, then grabbed Ryan by the arm. "This is Ryan, my sister. She's new here." Ryan got sat down by Shima. The two smirked at each other.

"I saw this one coming." Ryan shook her head and looked at Rosie, "I know this kid. We got English together."

"He's in advanced English?"

"No, I'm in regular English." Rosie looked at her, then started to introduce her to the others. She started with the boy she hugged.

"This is Rin Okumura, he has a twin brother around here. This is Shiemi Moriyama, Konekomaru Miwa, and Ryuji Suguro. We all have the same first and last block, along with Shima, but you know him~" Ryan rolled her eyes, and looked at her.

"Don't I have the same last block as you?"

"Yup!" she popped the P again. "So it'll be easy for us to get you to class." Ryan looked around at the boys. "No, Ry. Don't be smart."

"It's not hard to realize that they're Exwires, Rosie. Don't make me look stupid." They all looked at her.

"How the hell…" Ryuji Suguro spoke this time. His voice was rough, but Ryan wasn't fazed.

"Oh please, it's not that hard! They way you're always on guard, and the way you fidget", Ryan said, looking over to Rin. "That, and your tail is showing." She started to stand and grab her things. She took her lunch from Rosie and looked at the group; "Thanks for at least dealing with my shit." She started to walk away from the group.

"I'm sorry about her. She isn't used to groups… or friends… or people", Rosie sighed. "She hates people."

"I'm surprised that she's an Exorcist!" Rin exclaimed.

"She's not, Rin. She's an Exwire just like you guys. She's still training, even if she hates it." Rosie scratched her head, then started to dig through her lunch bag. "Lets just eat, yeah?"

******. . .**

Egyn stood on the roof, noticing the Exorcist immediately. "You're late, Johnny boy." Johnny looked down. "No matter. Did you bring my prize?" The dark haired demon king turned around and started at Johnny with his bright blue eyes.

"Well… You see…"

"So you don't?" Egyn watched the man fidget under his gaze. "Oh… Well, that's just sad… I'll give you another year." He turned away from him.

_"____You better have my bride.__"_

**. . . **

**Done! Hope you guys like it!**

**I hope this starts out okay since I've never been good at first chapters.**

**Read and review please!**

** - Red **


	3. II

_Great anger is more destructive than the swor__d_

- Indian Proverb

**. . .**

**II**

**. . .**

Ryan walked next to Rosie as the latter talked about boys. Oh, she was getting annoying with the idea of having boys around her in a sexual tone.

"Good for you, Rosie."

Rosie puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms. The two walked out of the crowded halls of the large school and into the windy summer weather. The mixture of both the cool breeze and the boiling sun made it feel more comfortable to walk through. Rosie continued to talk, and Ryan continued to tune her out, as they walked to an abandoned door. Rosie pulled out her keys and opened it with a funky-looking one. Ryan looked over her shoulder to look at the key more, but the door opened and Rosie walked in.

"You prepared to start learning?" Rosie asked as Ryan groaned. Ryan pulled her low pig-tails out and ran her fingers through her blue tipped hair as they walked through the dark halls of the cram school.

"Not really..." she started to tie her hair into a high ponytail as they walked towards their father's new classroom.

"Daddy!" Rosie yelled as he barged into the room full of kids willing to train. The faulted floor separated the Werstines from the kids that were all at the bottom. Ryan threw her bag by her father's desk as she went to the bathroom to change from her uniform to her training clothes.

Duncan looked at his brown haired daughter. "Hey, Thing 2." He hugged her and kissed her forehead. "Where's Thing 1?"

"Being a grouch." Ryan came out of the bathroom in her sports bra and a pair of running shorts and shoes. She reached into his drawer and pulled out a tight running-tank top. She was fit, but also had some curve to her. Not overly muscular, but enough to do some damage if she was ever in a fight. She watched her sister put on her exorcist coat and exit to find their mother and Dominic. Her father looked at her.

"You ready to learn?"

Ryan groaned in annoyance.

"I wanna go home..." She slid down the vaulted floor and onto the dirt training floor, and took her spot in the line. She was near the back close to Ryuji, who glared at her when she walked by. God, she wanted to throat-punch him.

"Alright, kids! Let's start with an introduction", Duncan smiled as he walked in front of everyone. "I am Duncan Werstine, your new Knight teacher." The class started to mumble about his last name. He spoke louder: "YOU WILL call me by either professor, sir, or Mr. Werstine. Do I make myself clear?"

"YES, SIR!" the whole class yelled. Duncan smiled.

"Good." He took the clipboard that was under his arm and went through roll. "Lets start with pairing you with your training buddies." As he started to pair up people, Ryan stood there with her head in the clouds again, trying to think of a way to get out of class.

"Um... Hello." Ryan looked over at the shy blonde that stood in front of her. She was from the lunch introduction that her sister had given her.

"Shiemi, right?" The girl's face lit up as she remembered her name. Ryan didn't understand the excitement that went though her eyes. "Should we start?" She looked around to see everyone training with blunt long swords. Her father came up to them and handed them both the same type of weapon everyone else was using.

To Ryan, the blade was a little foreign: a little heavier and more slashing force. Her rapier was lighter and useful in thrusting moves, but was able to be used for slashes. Ryan slashed the blunt blade in an X fashion before looking at Shiemi.

Shiemi was having a bit of difficulty. She held the sword incorrectly and the blade was heavy for her even if it was a beginner's sword. Ryan looked at her as she tried not to show her weakness. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she stabbed her blunt blade into the dirt, grabbed the blade from Shiemi's hands and walked away to get another. She came back with a small Tantou that was a reasonable size for Shiemi's hands and personality.

"Here. Use the dagger instead. You plus a sword equals bad things, I'm sure", Ryan stated bluntly as she came up behind Shiemi and taught her basic procedures on the dagger. She started with defensive as she reversed the blade in Shiemi's hands and put them up to cover her face and chest area. "You ALWAYS want to cover your face and chest." Ryan pulled Shiemi's elbows in towards her ribs. "Your ribs are vital along with you sternum and your neck." She gently grabbed Shiemi's wrist as she started to guide her through the basics. "All you have to do is slash through the center line. Never pull your elbow out in the open and away from your ribs. It gives your opponent an opening." Ryan continued this until she let go of her wrist and watched her do it herself. Shiemi was a little rough with the movements, but nothing a little practice couldn't fix.

Shiemi's face lit up with accomplishment, and she smiled brightly at Ryan. The latter smirked at her as she watched her continue the moves.

Ryan felt… happy. She had never really had someone smile at her like that; usually people just stared at her with disgust and hatred. She didn't mind the stares, but she didn't like it.

"You're doing well, Shiemi", she smiled at her. Geez, that smile seemed foreign upon her lips. "You might think that being able to wield a blade when it's not your class is stupid or useless, but you never know when you'll need it." Ryan still had the smile on her face. Why was she smiling? She didn't want to be here! So why was she smiling?

"You should hang out with us more!" Ryan's smile dropped at the thought of hanging out with a bunch of males when she probably had better things to do.

_No you don't. You don't do anything except for playing your little violin..._

Shut up... Her mind didn't know when to shut up. Stupid thoughts. Stupid mind.

Stupid family heritage and legacy.

"Ryan-san?" She looked at Shiemi.

"Just Ryan, yeah?" Shiemi smiled and nodded.

"Alright, kids!" Ryan snapped her head towards her fathers voice. "That's all for today. Dump your weapons into the rack, then you can leave." Ryan grabbed her blade and made her way towards the rack with Shiemi next to her. They dropped their weapons and Ryan made her way towards her father's desk. She grabbed her iPod and turned to her dad.

"Dad!" He looked over to her. "I'm going for a run."

He nodded as she started to walk towards the door. She passed a smiling Shiemi who was standing next to demon-boy.

"Thank you, for today." Ryan looked over to her and smiled.

"Of course." She plugged her earphones and ran out the door.

She ran out into the open air and started to run aimlessly around the campus. She needed to clear her mind of her emotions. She wasn't supposed to enjoy this. She didn't want this... this exorcist thing. It wasn't her.

Then why did she enjoy it so much? Was it because of Shiemi? Was it because of that smile? Shiemi's smile made her feel warm inside. Made her feel welcomed.

NO! She wasn't going to break and actually go along with this stupid Exorcist thi-

"Oof!" She fell to the ground with a thump with someone underneath her. She looked up to see an orange shirt and a males chest in her face. He smelled of sweat and his arms were sticky from the sweat just like her's was. She looked up to his face, which held a strong glare.

"Off." was the only word he said.

"Sorry, bro", she said as she got up and dusted herself off. She looked at his unusual blond and brown hair – wait a second...

"You!" She pointed at him as she snapped her fingers. "I know you... ah what's your name..." She looked though her memory. "Was it Miwa?" she asked, looking at him in confusion.

"It's Suguro!" he yelled at her. She had an unfazed face, which pissed him off.

"Didn't class just get out?" she asked him with confusion. She had just left, not even five minutes ago.

"Class got out thirty minuets ago." Of course... She was too deep in thought.

"You okay, though?" she asked as he got up and dusted himself off. Ryuji looked at her with a scowl. "Oh don't give me that look, you baby!"

"You were the one wasn't looking!" he argued.

"Yeah, well, you could at least dodge, right!?" she said back with some force. This guy was irritating: extremely irritating, and she knew he thought the same about her. She scoffed and picked up her iPod from the ground. She was done with this. "Whatever." She plugged her earphones back in and started to run, away from him.

He watched the infuriating girl run off in the opposite direction. God, she was so... so... ARGH!

His mind was running a million miles an hour as he felt a headache crawl up though his spine and into his skull. He groaned, and started to run again with the image of that annoying brunette with blue tipped hair still lingering in his mind.

God, rich kids were annoying...

**. . .**

**Here you guys go! The next chapter to the story! Hope you enjoy it**

**Beta by SuperiorDimwit.**

**-Red**


	4. III

_To live is to hurt others, and through others, to hurt oneself_

_-Albert Camus_

_**. . .**_

******III**

**. . .**

Ryan was bored. Only a few weeks into school and she was bored! No exciting projects that she could show off in, or exciting reads like Shakespeare. She sighed.

She looked over at Shima, who was trying to understand the writing on the board. Mrs. Takahashi was talking about book report formats.

She looked past Shima's head and out the window. The wind started to pick up which was a hopeful sign of fall. Though it was still late July, the weather changed fast. The leaves were changing fast and the sun wasn't hot on the skin. That meant it was the perfect time to get her longer runs in. Cooler weather meant her normal five-mile runs.

Then she started to think deeper. Rosie was talking about that weird-haired guy's birthday that was coming up, and she wouldn't shut up about it. Him and Ryan didn't get along well at ALL, and Rosie was talking to her about that asshole? Though it was fun to annoy him to no return, she didn't want to talk about him.

Then there was her and Rosie's birthday, which was located near the middle of November, right when fall started to end and go into winter. Right when the leaves were dead and the sound of them crunching under your feet soothed your mind.

"Ryan!" She snapped her head towards the teacher while she heard the kids giggling and sniggering in the background. _Shut up._

"Yes?"

"Can you at least pretend to pay attention to what I'm saying and stop watching the birds?" The kids continued to giggle which caused Ryan to shift uncomfortably.

"Yes, ma'am." Mrs. Takahashi smiled as she went back to writing on the board. Ryan sighed as she dozed off again, only looking towards the board. She continued to think about the softer weather until the bell rang and snapped her out of her thoughts. The students poured out through the small door until she was the only one in her seat. She packed her things, slung her violin case over her shoulder and started to make her way towards the door.

Her mind was constantly running ever since she came to this school. It didn't matter where she was, she was constantly having her mind reel in more and more directions with thoughts about things that she didn't want to think about; like her uncle, or becoming an Exorcist, or that guy who needed to stop glaring all the time.

What was his name... she couldn't remember for her life. She came from a family who was famous for-

"Ryan!"

She shoved all of her thoughts aside when she heard Shiemi and Rosie both call out to her. She groaned at the thought of what they were talking about.

"Hey." She watched as the blonde talked to Rosie with excitement.

"So have you told her yet?" Rosie shook her head as she sent a mischievous glance at Ryan. She smirked before looking back at Shiemi. Ryan looked at her. This couldn't be good.

"What are you guys talking about?" The wind started to pick up and started to toss around the girls' hair. Some kids bumped into her shoulder lightly as they tried to slip out of the cramped indoors and out into the fresh open area.

"Bon's birthday party", Rosie stated. Ryan looked at her with confusion. Bon? Wasn't that a French pastry?

"Um... who?" Ryan asked stepping closer to them to get out of the way of on-coming students. She didn't know if it was a new student or something.

"It's Ryuji. He goes by Bon, though." Ryan still looked at her with utter confusion and Rosie sighed. "He has the weird blonde streak in his hair." Ryan's face showed her realization of who it was.

"Oh! You're talking about Freak-show!" Ryan pointed to them as she called out. The two just looked at her in confusion. Rosie shook her head and looked at Shiemi and smiled.

"We should get to class. See you later." Shiemi said her goodbyes and ran off to get to her class on time. Ryan and Rosie walked next to each other on the sidewalk as they made a slow pace to their classes. Her band teacher didn't care if she was late; they didn't start class till halfway though the period.

"So, you gonna help us with Bon's birthday?" Rosie asked, hoping to get some sort of positive response.

"No."

Not what Rosie had wanted.

"But he's your friend!"

Ryan snorted as she threw her head back and laughed.

"Friend! That's funny!" She continued to laugh until she was out of that unusual feeling of humor and laughter. "Freak-show and I are full-blown enemies. He glares at me-"

"He glares at everyone", Rosie interrupted, but Ryan ignored her and went on:

"-he looks for fights all the time-"

"No, he doesn't", Rosie interrupted again.

"-and he's an asshole!"

Rosie looked at her and sighed.

"Everyone's an asshole in your opinion, Ryan." Rosie looked at her sister with soft eyes. Her sister needed to lighten up a bit. "Ever since third grade, you've hated people. Now you have a fresh chance to make friends!" Rosie jumped in front of her and stopped their movements. There was no one near them; the bell had rung two minutes before. The soft wind made the conversation more bearable, but she felt a tight knot tie up in her stomach as her sister brought up unwanted memories.

"Enough, Rosie."

"Ryan, you need to learn to open up a little!"

Ryan glared at her.

"Why? So I can get hurt again? So I can repeat everything I wanted to forget?" She raised her voice a bit, but Rosie was unfazed.

"That won't happen again. They're not like the others..."

Ryan gave a sarcastic laugh.

Why couldn't she walk away from this? She wanted to stop the conversation and walk away; go to class and play her violin and vent. She needed to run. She needed a good workout.

"You keep forgetting, Rosie..." _Shut up, shut up, shut UP! _"People hate me." She pushed past Rosie, hitting shoulders along the way.

She was going to regret that later.

**. . .**

Class was finally over with, and lunch had just started. Ryan came out of the girls locker room unsatisfied with her mile and not even hungry. This meant she would have to wait thirty minutes until the bell rang and she could go to her exorcist classes.

She groaned internally at the idea of dealing with Freak-show. She had already run into him while running, and gotten into many other fights that almost got her in trouble with her parents.

That boy was stubborn. Too stubborn for her liking, actually. And also, a bit of a jerk. He needed to stop glaring at people, then he would be more inviting. She sighed as she pulled out her phone when she walked out the door that lead to outside.

She had one new text from Rosie:

_Hey. I forgot to tell you that you're gonna play a few songs at Bon's birthday whether you like it or not XP. Love ya. Stay safe._

-R

Could this day get anymore stupidly stressful?

**. . .**

Ryan was the last one in the classroom when the bell rang. She looked at the blonde woman that sat on the desk with a Rosary and chanted some text from some scripture that she didn't know of.

The blonde woman was her mother – Susan Werstine. She looked nothing like her mother; although her brother did, with his mess of blond hair. She was a Meister in Aria and Doctor, which made her the nurse in her family. She would always chant verses to get her and Rosie to sleep when they didn't or couldn't; almost like lullabies.

"You're late, Ryan." Her mother stopped her chanting and looked at her with calm green eyes.

"Sorry, I was talking to Rosie." Her mother looked at her as she took her seat in the back of the slightly dilapidated classroom. The wallpaper needed to be changed, and cobwebs sat in the dark corners of the ceiling. It smelled of something, but Ryan didn't know the name of it. It was familiar... and made her feel uneasy. She put her bags down on the floor and proceeded to pull out a notebook.

She didn't want to pay attention to anything in this class. She had nothing to do here; she didn't belong here.

She was better off dead.

"Ryan Lilian Werstine!" Her head snapped as her mother called out her full name. "It would be best if you'd pay attention." She rolled her eyes as she looked down at her open notebook filled with writings. Poems from the internet and from her own mind. Stories of sorrow and pain that she only wrote down when she felt like shit. She opened up to an empty page and picked up her blue pen to start writing, only to feel a glare on her.

She glanced sideways then scoffed. _People should mind their own business..._

She heard him click his tongue as he went back to writing down notes of the lecture her mother was giving. She found herself doodling in the clean pages of her notebook, making it look like she was taking notes.

She continued to doodle in her notebook as class went on. She also continued to feel glares every now and then from the freak. Oh well... what can you do?

This continued for the rest of class time – constant doodling and glares from the freak. When her mother told them that class was over and left, she heard the guy burst out:

"If you don't wanna be an exorcist at all, why're ya here in the first place?!" She looked up at him, unfazed by his yelling.

"Reasons you would never understand." She got up and threw her notebook into her bag with out closing it. "You wouldn't be able to compute it", she smirked and started to walk off with the straps of her bags in her left hand, but was stopped by him grabbing her collar and turning her towards him. She accidentally dropped her bags on the floor from the jerking motion and heard something snap in her violin bag.

_My bow... _now she was mad. She took her spot in front of him and glared at him with full force. You didn't mess with her violin. EVER.

"You are really pissing me off!"

"Good! Then I'm doing my job correctly!" he growled at her.

"What are you gonna do: hit me!?" She got close to his face as she seethed: "Go ahead. See what happens." Venom dripped from her words as she narrowed her eyes at him. His friends were trying to get him to release her from his strong grip, but that wasn't working to well. After a few minutes of glaring, he pushed her back.

"You shouldn't come to class if you're just gonna waste others time", he scoffed.

"Yeah... Sure... Like this isn't a waste of time..." she picked up her bags and made her way towards the door. She slammed it hard behind her as she left.

Ryuji was still filled with frustration. That girl! He was tempted to hit her, oh so tempted. But that would've been a bad idea on his part since she was a girl, and his mother hadn't raised him to hit girls.

Very bad idea on his part.

He simply clicked his tongue and grabbed his things before leaving the classroom; hoping to get rid of the damn headache he was starting to get.

**. . . **

**Hope you guys enjoy this~!**

**Beat by ****SuperiorDimwit **

**Read and please review. Helps with motivation! **


	5. IV

_Anger is a wound gone mad._

_-Vanna Bonta_

**. . .**

**IV**

**. . .**

"So..." Susan and Duncan stood in front of both Ryuji and Ryan with Baryons on their laps, "you two gonna explain to us what happened?"

The situation was unusually stupid. They hadn't thought that there would be small cameras watching everything in the classrooms.

So here they were; two hours after the fight in Susan's classroom, getting lectured by her father because he saw it as irresponsible on Ryan's part, and stupid on Ryuji's part.

"What gave you two the idea to attack each other in my wife's classroom?" The two just sat there, completely silent. The Baryon was causing Ryan's legs to ache. For a split second, they glared at each other before looking straight at the floor.

"If you two don't talk, we'll keep you two like this until you do."

Ryan started to whine.

"You two are so cruel!" she complained as her legs started to go numb. She tried to move her legs a bit to keep the blood flowing, but that only gave the weird tingling feeling.

"So why don't you two tell us what happened?" After a few minutes of her mother's stare, she broke.

"He got mad at me and I taunted him." Ryuji looked at her as she told the truth. He had half expected her to blame it all on him. "So he grabbed my shirt, and I thought he was gonna hit me, so I taunted him some more to see what he would do." She sighed as she gave him a glance. "I only did that 'cause when he jerked me back, I dropped my bags, and my bow broke."

Her bow? What was she talking about?

"That's why you were in a sour mood when I came to get you." Ryan nodded at her mother's comment. Duncan looked at Ryuji.

"This true?"

Ryuji looked up at him and nodded.

"Yes, sir."

Duncan nodded and looked at Susan who also nodded and started to chant silently to lighten the Baryons. The possessed rocks fell off their laps and onto the ground. Ryan stretched her legs before getting up.

"I don't want you two fighting again in my wife's classroom, or in mine, do you understand me?" They both nodded.

"Yes", they said simultaneously.

"And no fighting on today's mission, got it?" They were quiet for a second before Ryan nodded.

"That'll be hard. He looks for fights", she grumbled at him while he gave her a glare.

"Ryan..." Duncan warned his daughter, who just put her hand up like she was being taken into custody.

"What! It's true." She headed towards the door and grabbed her bags, "See you guys at home." She walked out the door, leaving her parents perplexed by her attitude.

"Well, that's new..." Duncan looked at his wife with confusion. He waved his hand dismissively. "You can go, Ryuji." Ryuji nodded as he walked out with his bag on his shoulder.

"I've never seen Ryan act like that. Usually she wouldn't be all that talkative towards others." Susan got up and stood in front of Duncan. "You know how she's been ever since the news." Duncan nodded, slightly worried.

"Not sure whether I should be worried or glad", Susan smiled.

"Glad. This school might actually change her."

**. . .**

"Ryan!" Ryan looked over her shoulder to see Rosie running to her. Ryan sighed.

"You gonna explain to me that text you sent me earlier?" She looked at her with a slight scowl. Rosie started to fidget under her stare.

"Well, I thought it would be nice!"

"I'm not doing it." Ryan stated bluntly before turning and walking away.

"Why not!" Rosie whined as she tried to catch up to Ryan's strides.

"Because the guy hates me."

"Bon doesn't hate people", Rosie started blankly. "He just gets pissed easily." She sighed as Ryan slowed down her pace. "Bon has an unusual ambition to kill Satan after what happened on the Blue Night." Ryan remembered her mother talking about Blue Night once or twice.

"He has an impossible ambition", Ryan stated.

"Yeah. From what I've heard, he got laughed at for it." Ryan sighed as Rosie looked at her. "Almost similar to you."

"No... Nothing like me." Ryan looked down at her hands. "I've wanted more than that." She breathed in, then let out her breath slowly before looking at Rosie. "I need to go and get a new bow. I accidentally broke mine."

"Eh?! How?" Before she could get an answer, Ryan was out the door of the dark cram school halls and out into the open daylight.

Rosie sighed as she looked over her shoulder. "You don't need to hide, you know." A tall figure stepped out from the shadows. "I never saw you for a sneaky one, Dom."

"Yeah, well, mom said to keep an eye out for Ryan. Something has changed about her, apparently."

"She doesn't know whether to push people away or let them in. She's confused", Rosie stated as she looked down at the floor in thought.

"She's getting better."

"Yeah."

**. . .**

Ryan walked on the paved grounds of Mepphy Land with her rapier in left hand and her small Irish dagger in her belt. She looked at her father and another man with glasses talking about something, most likely the mission that was about to begin.

"You're late, Ryan!" her father called out as she walked up to the group.

"Had to buy a new bow."

Duncan shrugged as he took the excuse. The man next to Duncan handed him the clipboard that he was holding.

"Alright kids." He flipped through the pages, "I'm gonna pair you up before briefing you on what you are going to do." He pulled a pen out from his pocket. "Okumura and Shima. Miwa and Kamiki. Moriyama and Takara. Suguro and Werstine." Ryan grumbled as Ryuji glared.

Everyone paired up and stood next to each other. Ryuji and Ryan did not make eye contact. A thick tension lingered in the air as they stood there, side by side. Duncan smirked at his handiwork as he went on with the mission briefing.

"Aw... how come everyone else is paired with a girl and I'm stuck with you..." Shima complained as Rin gave him a sad look.

"There have been disturbances in the theme park. Reports say that some goblins have been attacking guests and causing havoc." He looked up at them from his clipboard. "You are to exterminate as many as you can, and, if possible, exterminate the queen." He gave the clipboard back to the man behind him. "If any of you get stuck in a pinch, just call either me or Okumura and we'll be there. But be wise about it", he took a breath, "if you call us, that means you are considered 'dead'." He flicked his wrist as he turned to Yukio.

The students walked off in different directions, hoping to find some to kill. Ryan fingered her rapier as they walked in silence.

This girl was different; in a bad way. She annoyed him constantly and she didn't know anything about being an exorcist, even if her parents were high ranked exorcists. She slung too much attitude for his liking. She never paid attention in class, and she just pissed him off.

"I would suggest you stay alert instead of blanking off." He glared at the speaker. "And stop glaring. You'll get wrinkles." He glared some more, but she didn't even look at him. "Look", she started, without looking at him, "I'm sorry that I pissed you off today. I've been busy with other things."

Ryuji clicked his tongue.

"Why do ya even bother coming to class when you're just gonna doze off?"

"'cause I have to", she sighed and mentally kicked herself.

_Shut up, mind. Stop making me talk._

"You have to?" She sighed once more before nodding. What was going on? Why was she telling him?

What is up with the people in this school?!

"No more questions", she stated blankly as he gave her a confused glare. "And no more talking. I've got a headache." She walked faster to keep her distance from him.

What the hell was happening to her? She was never a people person. No, she kept to herself and only to herself. It took her family forever to figure out everything that was happening at her old school, and by then it was too late to fix the situation. So why was she talking to him about it? She disliked him and he hated her. So why?

This school was confusing... People were confusing.

"Oi! Pay attention!" Ryuji snatched the Irish dagger from her hip and slashed at a small goblin that leapt at her face.

"Really?" Ryan cocked her hip as she unsheathed her rapier. "Must you grab my blades?" She threw the sheath to the side and snatched her Irish dagger from his hands. He growled at her as he pulled his 9 mm pistol from his holster. Ryan held the dagger in reverse grip and raised her rapier to the center of her face before swatting downwards.

Ryuji was the first to attack the goblins as his shots rang through her ears. She ran towards the heard of goblins thrusting with her rapier and slashing with her Irish dagger. The goblins started to gang up on her, and surrounded her so she couldn't move her feet. She stabbed straight through one of the goblins with her rapier as she tried to get out of their grip.

_Little buggers are strong..._ Shots rang, and goblins started to screech as she heard chanting going on in the background. She moved away from the heard and towards Ryuji as he finished the chanting.

"Thanks..." she said as she looked around to see more coming towards them. "Oh that's not good..." she huffed as she looked at Ryuji.

"We should get to higher grounds."

She nodded and followed him as he ran towards a building.

"How the hell are there this many goblins?" she asked. "I understand that they stay in groups, but goddamn!"

He sighed as he helped her up onto the building's roof.

"Heck if I know – we just need to figure out a way out of this area." Ryan looked at him with confusion.

"Then why the hell are we on a goddamn roof?!" she spat with annoyance.

"It's better than the ground!" Ryan huffed, and won that argument. As he tried to think of a plan, the two kicked down any climbing goblin trying to get them.

"If you could think faster, that would be very nice!"

"Shut up!"

Ryan grumbled under her breath as she stabbed a goblin's paw, then thrust her rapier into its eye before kicking it off the edge of the building.

"Then hurry up!" she yelled back at him as he continued to think. Mere minutes later, he grabbed her by the collar. She yelped at she brought back force.

"When I start chanting: run. I don't care where, just run." She looked at him as if he was crazy. "Just do what I say!" She grumbled and nodded as she waited for his signal.

He began chanting the fatal verse, and she jumped down from the roof and ran towards a larger building with him following behind her. She looked up at the sign and smiled.

"The House of Mirrors!" Ryan slammed into the large, heavy door to open it. She grunted as she made contact with the door and started to push it open. It opened a sliver and she slipped in, then grabbed Ryuji by the collar. She closed the door, and huffed as the surroundings went dark. "Find the light switch."

"Don't tell me what to do!" he yelled, causing his voice to echo through the halls.

"Then, don't just stand there!" she stated with annoyance. He grumbled as he went to the opposite side. The two looked for the large lever that was connected to the lights but couldn't find one. Ryan brought out her phone and used it as a light.

"I don't think we're gonna find anything, Ryuji", she stated as she tried to look for him. "Dude, where are you?"

"Over here!" She turned to the mirrors, which were reflecting light from his phone. She walked over to him and looked back towards the door.

"Did you find the light switch?"

"No, we'll have to get though here without light."

Ryan grumbled and shifted her feet.

"Okay, then..." she trailed off as she looked at a mirror.

"What, are you afraid of the dark?" he taunted her as she scoffed.

"Not in the slightest!" She walked ahead of him and slipped her rapier into her belt without its sheath. She pulled out her Irish dagger and cut her hand. Blood trailed down her palm and dripped past her wrist. She winced as Ryuji yelled at her:

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"Stop yelling, my ears are ringing." She dragged her hand across the mirrors. She refused to look at the mirrors, knowing that something or someone could pop out and only have a reflection. There was an awkward silence between them. The two just walked single file: Ryan in front trailing a path, and Ryuji behind her ready to shoot a goblin if needed.

All of a sudden, the lights turned on with a loud boom. Ryan jumped and pulled her hand away from the mirrors and held it to her shirt to stop the bleeding.

"Hello, Ry."

Ryan looked at the mirror in front of her and saw a reflection.

Dark_ hair, dark eyes, that yellow-toothed smile that had scared her when she was little…_

Her uncle's reflection.

She went rigid as she backed away from it, even if it was just a reflection. She bumped into Ryuji who was holding his 9 mm ready to shoot.

"Shoot the mirrors!" she yelled. Glass shattered, and Ryan covered her face as well as Ryuji. The man laughed.

"You gonna do that to me, Ry? I thought I was your favorite uncle." He sounded hurt as he said those words, but Ryan knew they were just words. "You were always my favorite niece." Ryuji stopped to reload his gun, but before he was able to put in another clip, he was pulled by his wrist and away from her uncle.

"Who the hell is that!?"

"Somebody, now hurry your ass up!" She ran through the maze of mirrors, seeing his dark hair and his scared up face. He was short for being in his late thirties – 5'6". Most of the men in her family were about six feet or taller. Even Dom was over six feet when his entered middle school.

"Go away, Johnny!" she yelled in frustration. "Go do you drugs or something and leave me alone!"

"That's harsh, Ry. I love you so much and you just push me away." a yellow-toothed smile was added.

"You're a fucking tweaker!"

"That hurts, Ry... Why are you so mean to me?" Ryan growled as she kept trying to get the two out of there. "You know I care about you. You're my favorite niece."

"SHUT UP!" her voice boomed through the maze of mirrors. She gripped Ryuji's wrist and started to run faster. He was almost glad that he could keep up and not trip over his feet.

They continued to run as Johnny kept saying sweet words towards Ryan. They finally reached the exit, and the sun blinded them when they ran out and met the heat from the outdoors air. Ryan squinted and looked around, expecting to be attack by both Johnny and the goblins, but the goblins were gone and Johnny was still inside the building.

Ryan let go of Ryuji's wrist and started to mess with her phone. She kept typing on it until she got what she wanted and put it up to her ear.

"Come on... pick up, pick up, pick up..." she whispered as she bounced on the balls of her feet, trying to stay calm.

"Duncan", her father's rough voice came over from the phone speaker and into her ear.

"Dad!" Ryan smiled, then plastered a serious look onto her face again. "Dad! Johnny's here!" She heard some rumbling and some shaking on the other side of the phone.

"Are you okay? Did he touch you? Where are you? Are you okay?" he continued to ask questions over the phone as she heard him mess with his claymore.

"I'm fine, dad. Just hurry up and get to the House of Mirrors."

"Why are you ther-" She closed her phone, not wanting to deal with her father's questions.

"Who the hell is Johnny?"

Ryan looked over at Ryuji, who was reloading his gun.

"Like I said before: somebody." She sighed and looked at her blood-clotted hand. Goddamn, it stung. She heard Ryuji grumble as he grabbed her injured hand and looked at it. "It's not that deep of a cut, but it'll still need stitches." he stated blankly. She pulled her hand away from his grip and put some space in between them.

"You're really pissing me off."

"I do that all the time, apparently." She looked down at the ground, not in the mood to argue with the guy. She just wanted to go home and take a long, hot bath and relax her aching muscles.

"Stop trying to fight on your own!"

"Oh so now you're gonna tell me what to do? Hmm?" She looked at him with anger in her eyes. Her mind was so cramped with thoughts and comments and memories that she wanted to forget. Ryuji simply clicked his tongue and was about to argue back, but Ryan's father ran up to them with his Scottish claymore. He looked at Ryan, who had blood smeared on her stomach and on her hand.

"What happened?"

"Goblins got out of control and we ran into the House of Mirrors, and then Johnny appeared and we ran out", Ryan explained as she slapped her father's hand away from her injured one. "Stop touching it. It stings." Duncan sighed as he saw his daughter was alright.

"Come on. Let's call off this mission and get you home." Yukio came running up to them. "Okumura, call off the mission and send them home."

"Yes, sir." Yukio brought out his phone and started to type as Duncan led Ryan towards the exit.

Ryuji stood there, wondering why the hell Johnny was there and what Mr. Werstine was so worked up about it.

**. . . **

**Beta by SuperiorDimwit**

**Review... It helps motivation.**


	6. V

_Home is where the heart is _

_-Pliny the Elder_

**. . .**

**V**

**. . .**

Ryan made a variety of disgruntled noises as the family dog jumped up on her bed. Little puppies are cute to a fault, but when they've grown into cute-but-not-so-little-dogs you'll regret you ever let them up in your bed to cuddle. Especially if they grow into big, attention-loving German shepherds.

"Morning, Blue..." she yawned and pushed at his neck to get him to stop licking her face: another thing you should never let puppies do, no matter how cute they are. Ryan sunk her hands into Blue's thick white fur… and grimaced. "Did you get a bath?"

As if to confirm the question, and maybe earn himself more of her attention, Blue rolled his heavy body over her bla- her _formerly _black sheets with a pleading whine.

"Morning." Ryan looked up to see Rosie walking past her door with a towel over her shoulder and her bathing suit on. "I gave him a bath." Ryan sat up, and Blue's ears perked up and his tongue lolled out.

"I didn't notice..." she stated with a sarcastic tone as she went back to paying attention to Blue. "No wonder you smell good." She hugged the dog's neck and dragged him with her when she laid back down. He wiggled from her grip and jumped off the bed, bolting out of the room as he heard his bowl get fillled with fresh food. Ryan sighed.

"He makes a mess", Rosie said as she walked out of her room while she towel dried her hair.

"He has shedding issues." Ryan rolled out of bed and started to strip the sheets. She rolled them into a ball and threw them into the corner of her dark room. She then turned on the lights and started to look for a clean shirt to cover her half-naked body. She picked out an overly sized one that was lying on the floor and put it over her sports bra and underwear.

"Mom's making breakfast", Rosie said as she sat on the stripped bed.

"Fine. What time is it?"

"Seven." Rosie threw her towel in Ryan's hamper. "Why?"

"Just wondering; and don't you have your own hamper?" Ryan snatched the towel back up and returned it to Rosie's face with a well-aimed throw. "Take it to your own room."

Rosie puckered her lips, but in the end she got up and left Ryan's room. Ryan walked out of her room, shutting the door behind her with her foot and glided down the stairs and towards the kitchen. She could smell the pancakes, the bacon, the eggs, the homemade muffins, and the biscuits, and the fresh coffee mixed in as well as she made her way to the pot to pour herself a cup.

"Morning, sweetheart." Susan kissed Ryan's forehead as she passed her. Ryan poured herself a straight cup of black coffee before walking and sitting next to her dad, who was reading the news on his tablet.

"Smells good, mom." She sipped her coffee, enjoying the strong, bold taste of it. She looked out into the backyard through the glass of the sliding doors. A few trees here and there, but mostly green grass. No dead patches, and it was freshly mowed; most likely Dominic's doing.

"You've got chores to do today."

"Laundry, clean my bedroom, and clean the kitchen." She sipped her coffee. "I know." Her mother smiled as she continued to flip pancakes and bacon.

"Food will be done in a minute."

Ryan nodded as she started to help clear the dining table. She set out plates and utensils before helping her mother place the food on the table. Her mother took away the tablet from her father. Duncan started to look at her with pleading eyes.

"Hun, there's an interesting mission in Sweden that they want me to take! I need to contact them and see the details of it!" he whined like child as his wife grabbed him by his ear and tugged it lightly.

"After breakfast. You know the rule: no electronics at the table." Dominic came down with huge headphones on his head and his black boxers on. "Same goes for you, Dom!" she yelled at him. He rolled his eyes as he set his loud headphones on the side counter above the china cabinets. "Turn it off, you goof!" she smiled at him as he grumbled.

Rosie made her way down in her little day outfit: a yellow tank top and a blue, knee-length skirt. Her hair was up in a tight bun and her sideways cross necklace rested on her collarbone. She sat down next to Ryan, who still sipped coffee.

"Dom, where's your shirt?" Duncan asked as he took a seat at the head of the table, across from Ryan. Susan sat to the left of him and Dom to his right.

"Dirty", he grumbled. He wasn't a morning person. Susan looked down at her plate and laughed lightly.

"I just washed your shirts. How did they get so dirty so quickly?" Duncan started to serve himself some pancakes and some bacon. Ryan did the same thing, but Rosie waited for her mother to say grace.

"Maybe he was trying to impress a girl?" Duncan said as he started to shove a piece of bacon in his mouth.

"You mean his blow-up doll?" Ryan commented as she drowned her pancakes in syrup. Susan glared daggers at the two as Rosie stifled her laughter.

"Can we not talk about how my son is so lonely that he has to talk to a blow-up doll?" Duncan sputtered bacon bits as he laughed. Ryan leaned against the table and hung her head as she laughed. Rosie looked at Dominic who was ignoring his crazy family. His cheeks were tinted red as he served himself a heap of eggs. Ryan got up from her seat and walked to the refrigerator.

"Anyone want milk?"

"Yes", the whole table said as they started to serve themselves.

"We didn't say grace." Rosie suddenly said. Duncan opened his full mouth.

"Amen to food."

"Amen!" the rest of the table said as Ryan poured everyone their glass of milk. She kept the jug out and started to eat her pancakes; which were a mushy mess from the maple syrup. After a while, Ryan loaded another heap of pancakes on her plate, but decided to smother them in blueberry jam.

"You keep eating like that, you'll become fat", Dominic teased.

"Says the guy who can't get a girlfriend." Ryan stopped spreading her jam on her pancake and looked at Dominic. "I mean, Rosie has more girlfriends than you." Dominic opened his mouth to say something, but ended up shoving his face with a biscuit. It was Saturday; his day to get picked on.

"Unless you consider Lola his girlfriend." Rosie covered her mouth to speak since she was chewing a muffin.

"Who's Lola?" Susan teased as she spread butter on her biscuit.

"The girl who works with him in History." Rosie smiled as she looked at a full blushing Dominic. "She's real cute."

"My son's a man!" Duncan announced loudly as he started eating his muffin. "These are good, hun." Susan smiled at his comment.

In the heat of the discussion, Dominic decided to take the spotlight off of himself: "Ryan made a friend."

The table went silent as Rosie nodded. "Yeah, Shiemi's a cutie, too!"

"Shut it..." Ryan muttered with pancakes in her mouth.

"Well, now... Didn't I pair you up with her during training?" Duncan placed his elbow on the table and leaned forward.

"Yeah... So?" Ryan tried to sound casual, but her father was going to tease her – no doubt.

"Aw! I'm gonna have to meet this girl", her mother started. "It's like Kindergarten all over again!" She jumped in her seat like a schoolgirl.

"Mom... Calm down", Ryan stated blankly as she picked up a muffin. "Nothing special about making or having a friend. And she not even my friend, she's just a girl I talk to."

"A friend", Rosie bumped in. Duncan and Dominic were enjoying this.

"Not a friend", Ryan argued back.

"You have a friend! I should write this down somewhere." Susan made it look like she was gonna get out of her seat but ended up staying where she was. Ryan sighed; she was used to this kind of teasing.

"Why would you want to write it down?" Ryan questioned while she tried to hide the smile that was forming on her face. Everyone continued to talk and tease each other for another ten minutes before their stomachs had grown ten times bigger.

"So amazing, hun." Duncan patted his belly. "You'll always be better at this cooking thing." Ryan and Susan started to take the dishes in.

"It's called 'following the recipes', which you never do."

"That's why we don't eat your cooking", Ryan commented as she started to put the dishes in the dishwasher.

"Yup." Dominic got up from his seat and got his headphones from off the side counter. He handed his father the tablet, and Duncan started to look through the files of the mission in Sweden.

"Honey!" he called out in a sweet voice. "Do you mind me going away on a mission in Sweden to take out some horse demon that is luring children?" he asked.

"You're an adult. You can make that decision on your own."

"But what if I die!" He drew out on the word _die_ for dramatic effect.

"I always have your brother."

"So cruel..."

Ryan smiled as her mother walked over to her husband and kissed his cheek.

"I know you won't die, so you can leave."

"Again... So cruel!" he smirked as he kissed her forehead and got up from his chair. "I'm gonna go pack, then I'll be off."

"When do you need to be there?" Rosie asked as she sat down on the bar stool by the kitchen counter.

"By Monday, but you know how I procrastinate." He walked up the stairs and started to pack his gear.

"I did the dishes, and I cleaned the counters."

"Thank you." Ryan smiled as she kissed her mother on the cheek before taking a seat on the couch to watch some T.V. She flicked through the channels before turning it off and falling to the side.

"Nothing's on on Saturday mornings..." Ryan grumbled as she laid down. She propped her feet up and Dominic made his way over and sat on them.

"Thanks for the comfy seat", he smirked.

"Off my legs, Dom!" Ryan sighed. He was too childish for his age. "Stop acting like a child and start acting like a man!" she joked. Dominic's eye twitched as he started to tickle her sides. She squealed and flailed her arms. "St-stop!" She continued to laugh until Rosie decided to climb over the backrest of the couch and fall on both of them.

"Oh, I can see the T.V. now!"

"Rosie!" they complained as she sat on the two. Ryan started to groan in annoyance as she tried to push them off or at least try and wiggle out from under them. She managed to after a few minutes and she landed hard on the ground. She stood up and fixed her shirt before walking towards the stairs.

Blue followed her up, hoping to get something from her. "You wanna go for a run?" His ears twitched and he looked at her with is tongue out. "I'll take that as a yes." She got to her room and started to change her clothing until her mother came in while she was in the midst of stripping.

"Homework first, then you can go running." She exited and shut her door as Ryan groaned. She still pulled off her shirt and she put something more suitable to wear. She threw on the tank top and her running shorts as she walked to her desk to start her math. She turned on her desk lamp and started up her computer while Blue got comfortable on her bed.

"Ryan!" Ryan sighed as she spun around in her chair to see Rosie making her way into her room with a first aid kit. She groaned. "We need to change the bandages on your hand."

"Not now, I'm busy." She turned back towards her desk and started to type on her laptop. "And I only wrapped it so it wouldn't get all irritated." Rosie sighed as she grabbed at Ryan's wrist and brought it towards her.

"Don't care. You need to air it out, anyways." Rosie started to unwrap the gauze around her hand to let it air out.

"Mmmhmm..." Ryan hummed as she tried not to care. She hissed when Rosie touched the tender edges of the cut.

"Sorry..." Rosie mumbled before lighting up. "OH! I have a favor to ask of you!"

"No", Ryan said immediately and gave her sister a stern look. "You already got me playing my violin at Freak-show's birthday."

"Bon's birthday, not Freak-show", Rosie sighed. "And that's not it. I was wondering if you would tutor Rin in math. Yukio and I already got Science, History and Literature, but we can't teach him math very well."

"There's a difference between tutoring and teaching. What do you want me to do?"

Rosie's face lit up.

"So you'll do it?"

"Don't make me regret it." Rosie hugged her, squashing Ryan's hand in between them accidentally. Ryan hissed again as she nudged her hand out and patted Rosie on the back. Rosie pulled back and grabbed Ryan's hand.

"Lets get your hand wrapped up."

**. . .**

Ryan sat back in her chair and threw her head back to stretch out her aching neck. She's just finished her trig homework, and now she was just sore from sitting in a chair for an hour or so. She let out a long, dragging breath as she looked at Blue, who had fallen asleep on her bed. She groaned as she stretched her legs. She spun in her chair and looked at her dimly lit room. Walls covered in random posters and pictures of her family. None of the glossy paper overlapped each other and the cream wall could be seen between the papers. Her carpet was beige and covered in clothes (mostly underwear and bras of all sorts), and random papers. She looked at her opened closet and saw all of her clothing on one side and her school uniform on the other. She wasn't completely organized, but she was close enough to it.

She stood, reached her arms up above her head and stretched her back while walking towards the mahogany drawers in her closet. She pulled out a pair of socks and shut her door. The click of the door alerted Blue and he picked up his head to look at her.

"Hey, buddy." She threw on her socks and shoes before grabbing his leash and clipping him to it, "Let's go for a run."

**. . .**

Shima looked over at his side of the room and stared at Koneko who was typing away at his computer. "Whatcha doin'?" Shima asked as curiosity bit at him.

"Research", he stated as he stopped what he was typing and looked at Shima past the bookshelves that separated them. "I was curious about Ryan so I decided to look it up in the database."

"Stalker." Shima sniggered as he moved past the bookshelves and next to Koneko. "So what did you find?"

Koneko cleared his throat as he looked back at the screen and scrolled up to the top.

"Not much. Most of the information that is released to the public is basic, so all I have is the relations to her and some news on some guy names Johnny Werstine." Shima raised a brow.

"That name sounds familiar..."

"Bon was mumbling about it earlier before he left for his jog."

"Was he?" Shima looked at Koneko before looking back at the glowing screen. "What's it say about this Johnny?"

"Well, he was her uncle and he's a drug addict that works for a demon king. That's all I got, though." Shima looked at Koneko with wide eyes.

"Ryan's uncle works for a demon king!?" His voice raised a little as he heard the news. "Do you think that the rest of the family works for it, too?"

"Well, if they did they wouldn't be here as exorcists, would they?"

Shima calmed down and slouched as he scratched the back of his head.

"Right… right..." Shima straightened up and looked at the screen again. "So we gonna tell Bon this?"

"Yes, of course. We have to work with her, everyone should know this."

"Wait, don't you think that we should talk to Rosie about it first?"

Koneko thought about that comment.

"Maybe you can do that." The door opened and closed, and let in the sound of air puffing at rhythmic interval. They both turned and saw Ryuji, who was getting ready for a shower.

"Hey, Bon", Shima smiled as he waved at him, "guess what Koneko found out about Ryan?"

Ryuji merely stared at the two with a confused look before walking over to them.

**. . .**

**Chapter five everybody!**

**Please review, it helps a lot. :D**


	7. VI

_The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies… it comes from loved ones_

_- Ash Sweeney_

**. . .**

**VI**

**. . .**

Ryan stretched her sore shoulders as she walked next to Rosie with a steady stride. There was a comfortable silence between them as Rosie checked her phone constantly and Ryan had her music humming into her ears. Ryan let out a loud sigh as she brought her arms back down to her sides. Mondays were always something she hated. The lagging feeling from the weekend wasn't something she enjoyed.

"Ryan!" Rosie pulled out one of Ryan's ear buds to get her attention. "Are you prepared for tutoring Rin?" Ryan groaned as she stuck the ear bud back into her ear. She wanted to go back home and sleep, but felt her sister slap the back of her head as they both walked towards the large school stairs.

"Can you at least _pretend_ to pay attention while I'm talking?" Ryan gave her a bored, blank look and right when she was about to answer, but Rosie sighed as she decided not to complain or argue with her twin.

"Morning, Rosie. Ryan."

The two girls looked over to the pink haired boy who was walking next to none other than his two friends. Ryan turned away and looked at Rosie before walking towards her first class. Rosie sighed before calling out to her.

"Don't forget about after school!" They all saw Ryan flick her wrist as she walked away with her headphones in. Yeah... she wasn't a people person.

Rosie heard Ryuji click his tongue: "What's with her?"

"She's not a Monday person", Rosie smiled sheepishly as she looked at Ryan's retreating form, marked out in the crowd by her violin bag. "She stayed up late last night arguing with mum and dad. Something about schooling and such." Rosie turned to them and gave a brighter smile. "That, and I asked her to tutor Rin." The three of them stared at her with wide eyes.

"You managed to get Ryan-san to tutor Rin?" Koneko was the first to talk as the information set in.

"Yup! Wasn't that hard, I'm just worried that she's gonna kill him."

"Why would she kill him?" The bell rang, and Rosie looked up at the school, then back to them.

"She has patience, but not a lot of it." She waved at them as she ran off towards class. "See you guys later!" Shima waved at the girl with a cheesy smile plastered on his face. Ryuji clicked his tongue before walking away from his friends and to his homeroom.

**. . .**

"So not in the mood for this..." Ryan groaned as her voice went raspy. She flopped herself onto the couch her father kept in his classroom.

"Why are you so tired?" Rosie asked as she got fitted into her uniform jacket. "You shouldn't stay up late anymore."

"I have insomnia..." Ryan grumbled as Duncan walked in.

"I would know if my daughter had insomnia, and you don't have that."

Ryan glared at him.

"What do you know about me?" she snapped at him and Duncan looked at her with a stern look.

"I know you better than you do. Don't ever think that I don't."

"Oh... I see." Ryan shifted herself into a sitting position before getting up and walking over to him with attitude following her. Rosie looked at the two and shifted in her spot. "You think you know me _so well_ just because I'm _your daughter_? You don't know me at all!"

"That's where you're wrong, Ryan Lilian! I've lived with you for all of your fifteen years of life!" The two stood almost chest-to-chest, glaring at each other. Rosie backed up towards the door as it opened. She was hoping it was her mother.

It wasn't.

"Just because you've lived with me, doesn't mean that you know how I think, what I think of, or why I hate this godforsaken legacy that you and the rest of our damn family shoves down my throat!" she yelled in his face. She backed up a little as she kept a steady glare. "Dammit, why can't you guys just leave me alone about it!?"

"Don't you dare raise your voice, young lady! I don't need this now, especially since I leave tonight!"

"Good! Leave, I don't care!" Ryan's voice continued to get louder. She went to the couch and grabbed her bags and made her way towards the door. Everyone was standing there with unusual looks on their faces as she walked towards them. "What? Are you gonna argue with me, too?" she snapped and she shoulder-checked the boys as she walked out the door.

Duncan sighed loudly, flopped down into his office chair and rubbed his eyes. "Stretch, grab your weapons. Today's a free day." His voice sounded tired and worn. "Rosie, can you go find Ryan?"

"No."

He looked up at his daughter.

"Let her cool off. She's stressed, and tired." Rosie made her way towards her father as the students started to stretch and get ready. "You and mum really got into it with her last night."

"She knows we do this for her own good... Why can't she just see it?"

"You know how stubborn Ryan is."

Duncan sighed again.

"Yeah..."

**. . .**

Ryan sat in the local library writing down notes for Rin; if he showed up. She was so stressed, and she had too much on her mind to think properly. Everything was clouded and dark; covered in memories and moments. Her own library, the one in her head, was starting to crumble and fall; even the books that held all of her secrets and dark memories. She was falling apart. She was able to hold everything together with tape and string, but she was missing the rope. She needed a rope to hold everything down again.

Ryan gritted her teeth as she continued to scribble down words; now in English. She stopped what she was doing as she leaned back in her chair.

"_Fucking hell..._" her English came out perfect as she sighed.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I overslept."

Ryan looked behind her as she saw Rin come around to sit across form her.

"_Not an issue_", she muttered, not noticing the confusion on his face. She mentally slapped herself for making a mistake. "Sorry... I've been muttering in English lately."

Rin just looked at her, then gave off a smile. She didn't understand what was going on, but she felt better when she saw that smile. She shook her head as she scratched her leg... She had to get used to smiles now.

"So where do you want to start?" She watched as he pull out his books and flipped to the first page.

"The first chapter?" he asked cautiously, slightly afraid that she was gonna bite his head off like she did to her father earlier.

"What chapter are you supposed to be on right now?" she asked in a bland tone.

"Chapter two."

Ryan closed her eyes and sighed.

"So you're not too far off, then." Ryan clicked her pencil as she looked at his book. "Let's start with the first section: Order of Operations." She grabbed her little notebook and flipped to the middle of it. "All you need to remember is PEMDAS." Rin gave her a questioning look. "The easiest way to remember PEMDAS is Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally." She wrote down the acronym as she talked. "P stands for parentheses. E – Exponents. M – multiplication. D – division. A – addition. And S – subtraction." She wrote down the last of the information and scribbled a simple equation. "Now solve 3(6+7)." She ripped out the paper and placed it in front of him with all the information still on it.

She watched him stare at it for a while before scribbling down the solution and the answer. He pushed it over to her and she looked at his answer.

"So?" He looked at her with bright eyes; hoping he got it right.

"Um... close, but no. It's 39 not 42." He looked down, defeated. "You did everything else correctly, it's just you multiplied like it was 14 and not 13." She went into her bag and pulled out her calculator. "You can have this, since I have a graphing calculator."

"Really?" He looked at the device with fascination.

"It'll help you... well, calculate mathematical equations easier." He looked at her blankly. That statement went in one ear and out the other. "Press the numbers and symbols and it'll give you the answer." His moth formed an o-shape as he nodded.

"So if I put in the equation that you have here."

"You'll get 39." He did so, and lit up as he saw the answer on the screen.

"So cool!" he yelled, and people screeched at him with 'shh!'

"Quiet. We're in a library, not a club."

He nodded and the two continued to study. She was enjoying this, even if he was really slow with simple problems.

Two hours passed and they got halfway though chapter one. That was a first for Rin, since he barely got anything that the teacher talked of.

"So, Wednesday. Same time", Ryan said as they both exited the library.

"Wait, I thought that I only need one session and then I'll pass the class?"

"No." Ryan gave a light laugh. "Wednesday it is. Don't be late." She walked off towards her house, but Rin stopped her.

"Hey, Ryan!"

She turned to him as he walked up to her.

"Yeah?"

"Talk to your dad." She grumbled as he mentioned Duncan. "It'll help, and if you don't you'll regret it." Ryan looked at him and noticed his face contort as she imagined his brain flash memories though it. She looked down and sighed before walking off.

"Wednesday it is."

**. . .**

Ryan stood next to her sister as they said their goodbyes to their departing father.

"I'll be back in a week." He shut the back of the taxi and walked over to his family. She felt bad about what happened earlier, but she was too stubborn to actually admit that she felt that way. She watched him as he kissed mum, hug her brother, and tell him that he's in charge of his class till he get's back. He hugged Rosie and whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek. He stopped at Ryan last and looked at her. Ryan looked down and mumbled.

"I'm sorry for earlier." Duncan pulled her in for a hug and kissed her forehead.

"Forgiven." He pulled back, but kept her at arm's length. "Don't give your mother trouble, now." Ryan nodded and he walked to the cab and got in. He rolled down the window and waved at them. "I love you, my beautiful, freakish, unusual, cool family! I'm off to my death, but do not fret!" Ryan sighed and yelled at him.

"If you're not dying, then why make a scene!?" she smirked at him as the car drove off. The family walked inside as Ryan announced: "I'm going for a run."

**. . . **

**Sorry for the wait you guys, Dimwit was busy with somethings and I was dealing with a bunch of writers block and family issues. **

**please review, helps the motivation.**

**Beta by SuperiorDimwit**


	8. VII

_I only do this because I'm having fun. The day I stop having fun, I'll just walk away. _ -_Heath Ledger_

**. . .**

**VII**

**. . .**

The rest of the week went smoothly: their father came back with a broken arm, but that was better than no arm at all; then Ryan got into an argument with Ryuji about getting in her way which led to a full-blown yelling contest. They bickered and got in each other's face until they were just done. Nobody did anything about it since everyone was scared to actually step near them. Rosie was extremely curious as to why those two never got along...

But Tuesday went to Wednesday then to Thursday and then it was finally Friday.

The first Friday in August, and the family was packing to go on a seven hour drive to Akita Prefecture for the Kanto Matsuri. Everyone just got back from school not even an hour ago to pack for the drive.

"No, Shima!" Rosie yelled into her phone. "We're gonna come pick you up!" Rosie cocked her hip and placed her left hand on it. "Yes, make sure you bring enough for a few days, we rented out two cars so there's enough room for everyone." A pause and a sigh: "Who cares if Yukio doesn't want to come? He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to." She walked down the stairs as she laughed lightly. Ryan smirked and shook her head at her sister. She was a bigger oddball than she was.

"Ryan!" She stopped what she was doing and walked towards the staircase.

"Yeah?"

"You don't mind a car filled with people, do you?"

Ryan looked at her with furrowed brows.

"No... Why?" Rosie smiled like an idiot.

"No reason~" she sang as she walked away from the staircase and into the kitchen.

"So she's okay with us coming along?" Shima asked. Rosie heard him rustling with his bag over the phone.

"When I talked to her about it she didn't care."

"Did you mention that Bon was coming?" More rustling with his bag. "Those two fight every chance they get, you know."

"We have two cars. It'll be fine." Rosie sat at the dining table with her legs crossed. "Besides, Susan is coming along. She won't give attitude."

"Doesn't matter if she's coming along. That boy seems to cause her to flair", Duncan mumbled and Rosie threw a nearby magazine at him. She smirked at her father as she heard background noises from her phone.

"What happened?" Rosie asked. Shima simply sighed as she heard him zip up his bag.

"Rin's bothering Bon."

"The usual?"

"Yup." Rosie heard Ryan climb down the stairs with her large hiking pack on her shoulders and her small travel pack in hand. Rosie looked at her up and down: baggy sweat pants and a tight spaghetti tank top was all Ryan was standing in.

"We'll be there later, Shima." Rosie hung up the phone and looked at her sister. "You ready?"

Ryan nodded as she set her bags near the door where everyone else's stuff was. She walked into the kitchen and looked over at her father with his left arm in a sling and several stitches above his right eyebrow and on his jaw line.

"Yeah." She looked at him with a blank expression, "How ya feeling, dad?"

He groaned, but put a smile on his face.

"Better than yesterday."

Ryan smiled lightly as she went into the fridge and pulled out the carton of milk.

"That's good." She grabbed a cup from the cabinets and poured herself a helping of milk. "You didn't even move yesterday, so it's good to see you up and about." She put the milk back and sat across from her father at the dining table.

"I can't believe that you encountered a nattravn on your mission!" Dom exclaimed as he read through the manila folder filled with the report. Duncan gave his son a glare.

"Put that down!"

Dom looked at his dad before closing it.

"But it's interesting", Ryan smirked at him.

"So you actually _can_ read?" Dom glared at her as he tried to make up with a comeback.

"Hey, it's not like you can do any better!" Ryan smirked at her brother as the two started to get into a playful dispute. Rosie blankly stared at them while Duncan simply sighed. The two more mature ones heard Susan climb down the stairs as she dragged her duffel bag behind her.

"You two!" Ryan and Dominic looked at their mum with confused eyes. "Shut up, grab your stuff, and get in the car."

They paused as they moved from their positions and towards the front door with Rosie following them. They packed the car and started to get themselves set up for the seven-hour drive. Rosie settled in the front of the first car with her brother in the driver's seat, while Ryan sat in the back of the second car with her mum driving. They waved to their dad and Blue as they drove off to pick up the others.

It wasn't a long drive from their home to the boys' and girls' dorms, though it took time to pack everything of theirs into the cars and for them to pick what car to sit in. Shiemi decided to sit with Rosie, so Shima followed her just to hang out with the girls. Izumo just rolled her eyes and sat in the front with Susan while Koneko and Ryuji sat in the middle of the same car. Rin was having a difficult time choosing when Dom just pushed him into his car and they drove off.

Ryan sat in the back, reading an article on the festival on her tablet while orchestral music surged into her ears on full blast. After reading about the Kanto Matsuri, she switched to one of her books.

After an hour or so of reading, a flick in the forehead caused her to jump. She looked up while pulling off her bulky headphones.

"Yeah?" She looked at Ryuji as he and Koneko turned to look at her.

"We're parking in a few for a bathroom break."

Ryan took off her headphones from her neck and stretched her legs and arms.

"Alrighty." She leaned forward and rested her head on her arms as she looked over both of their shoulders. "What have you guys been doing?"

"Studying."

She nodded and looked at the writing in the book.

"Fun." She leaned back and rolled her neck. The car pulled off the freeway and onto a rest stop. She got out of the car after the boys, stretched her muscles, and started to walk towards the bathrooms. She saw the sun was just setting and the horizon was filled with crisp colors of reds and yellows and oranges. She breathed in and out before she walked into the large rest rooms. She leaned against the tile wall as she waited for her turn to use a stall before she left.

She walked out the restrooms and towards the cars, seeing everyone waiting outside and talking.

"What's up?" She walked up to Rosie who was leaning against the car.

"We're waiting for Rin", Rosie smiled. "He's buying snacks from the vending machine."

"Oi, Okumura! Hurry up!" Ryan and Rosie looked at Ryuji as he stomped over to Rin's current position. They all watched as Ryuji started to drag Rin away from the vending machine with snacks in his arms. Ryan held in her laughter as Rosie giggled about it and climbed into the car. Ryan laughed as she climbed back into her car and sat in her spot again. She watched and waited for everyone to get seated with everything until they were off again.

**. . .**

A flick on the cheek caused her to groan and swat away his hand. Ryuji grumbled as he flicked her forehead.

"Oi, Ryan. Wake up."

"No..." She curled her legs underneath her and nudged into the corner of the car. Dom looked in a put a hand on Ryuji's shoulder.

"I got this."

Ryuji gave a nod, grabbed his bags, and walked towards the large hotel. He walked in and looked around the lobby. It was an open area, with windows that gave them a nice view of the city and the lights. He stood next to Koneko as he waited for his teacher to finish talking to the receptionist.

"You suck..." he looked over his shoulder as he heard Ryan grumble at her brother.

"You should have gotten up sooner, then I wouldn't have had to do that", Dominic smirked at her as she yawned. She walked up to Ryuji and dropped her bags by her feet. She rubbed her neck as she closed her eyes and swayed a little.

"You okay?"

She nodded in response to his question and yawned again.

"Yeah... Just so done for today." Her mom came back with two room keys and a smile on her face.

"Okay, so we got a joint room. Here's one for the boys," she handed Dom the key, "and I have the key for the girls." Ryan picked up her bags and walked behind her as they started to find their rooms.

**. . .**

The next morning, Ryan awoke to the sound of her sister's and Shiemi's laughter, and some rumbling. She rolled over in her bed with a groan and squinted as the bright light of the phone screen stung her eyes. Six in the morning. Why did anyone want to be up this early? A sliver of light from the open crack in the bathroom door drew her up into sitting position. Ryan kicked off her blanket, threw her bare legs over the edge of the bed and stretched them. Scooping her tank top up from the floor as she rose, she dressed herself and made a beeline for the bathroom.

"Hello?" She pushed open the door to see Rosie.

"Morning, Ryan." Rosie's voice sounded in her ears as she adjusted her breasts. She saw the dark fuchsia pink and floral pattern that it had and thought that it fit her perfectly, and blankly stared at her.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting ready for the festival," Ryan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "mum already bought us yukatas before the festival."

Ryan stared before walking out and back to the beds. She grabbed her phone and looked at the time before grumbling and getting out of her bed again and walking towards the door that separated them from the boys. She opened the door and looked inside to see Dominic relaxing in his own yukata. It was a dark gray with thin cream-colored stripes.

"Ryan." She looked over at her brother who had his arms crossed. "What are you wearing?" Ryan looked down at her plain gray underwear and her white tank top that was almost see-through.

"Pajamas." She looked at him. "Where's mom and the others?"

"Dad called her. She's outside, and the others are getting breakfast." He pointed to the door. Ryan sighed and closed it. When she turned around, she was looking right into Rosie's bright blue eyes.

"It's your turn!" Rosie yelled as she dragged Ryan towards the bathroom.

This was gonna be an eventful day...

**. . .**

"Duncan, please. She needs a break from all this." Susan rubbed the bridge of her nose as she talked to her husband. "Yes, I know she's in danger and yes, I know he could be out there, but what is he gonna do; attack her in a large crowd?" Susan walked away from the group of esquires and towards the front doors of the hotel.

Everyone was waiting for the last two girls to get done getting ready. Rin was talking to Shima about something, and Ryuji sat in a seat in the front going over chants in his head, eyes closed, with Koneko seated next to him. Izumo sat there with her usual cold demeanor, trying to remember what got her to come anyway. Dom was keeping an eye on the front door, which Izumo found unusual. What was he waiting for?

"Rosie, tell me something." Dom looked over as Ryan's voice sounded. "What the hell am I doing in this?"

"We're going to a festival!" Rosie smiled as she linked arms with her sister. "Besides, you like it." Ryan blew air past her closed lips and looked away from her. Her yukata was a soft marigold with branches stretched across the fabric.

"Well, don't you girls look amazing." Shima walked up to them with a cheesy smile plastered on his lips. Rosie accepted the compliment with a smile: Ryan slipped from her sister's grip and walked over to Dom who was watching their mom talk on the phone.

"Everything alright?" She looked at Dom's stern face with worry.

"Everything's fine." He ruffled her hair and walked outside towards their mom. Ryan looked through the glass door with furrowed brows.

"Ryan." She turned around to see everyone grouping together for a picture. "Come on, let's get a picture." Ryan rolled her eyes as a small smile appeared on her face. As they took group pictures with the help from one of the receptionists, Dom and Susan walked in, talking to each other in low voices. Ryan watched them as they did, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Oi." Her head snapped towards the voice. "You alright?"

Ryan stared at Ryuji blankly before nodding.

"Yeah," she swallowed before looking over at the two again. "I'm just curious as to what's going on." Ryan shook her head and looked over towards Rosie. She was looking at the camera as she flipped through the pictures, laughing about something with Shiemi. Those two seemed close, in Ryan's eyes.

"I know who you are." Ryan glared at Ryuji from the corner of her eye; full defenses up. "We found the news letter on the exorcist site." He looked at her with stern eyes, but it wasn't a glare. "Who is John Werstine?"

There was a short pause before Ryan answered him.

"To me, he's nobody." She looked down and breathed before walking over to Rosie with a fake smile on her face.

"Alright kids, let's get going." Susan smiled at them as she stuffed her phone in her little bag. "Remember to stay in groups, don't leave each others' sides, and make sure to be back her before twelve. Got it?" They all nodded. "Good – now go have fun." Rosie dragged Ryan by the arm and got outside, headed for the festival.

**. . .**

"Well this is new..." Ryan mumbled as she crossed her arms. She stood next to Ryuji, who was just along for the ride, while everyone else was looking around at stalls and the games.

"You've never been to a Matsuri, have you?"

Ryan shrugged.

"I don't even know what a Matsuri is", she sighed as she watched Rosie eat some different food. "Is it like the State Fair?"

"Like a what?" Ryuji looked at her with confusion. What the hell was a state fair?

"No, then?" Ryan looked at him trying real hard not to smile.

"So wait... You've never been to a Matsuri, let alone a festival?"

Ryan shook her head.

"Not a single one", Ryan laughed lightly. "I got out voted by three to one. I was forced to come." Ryuji grumbled – and out of the blue he grabbed her arm and dragged her to one of the food vendors. "Whoa! Hey what are you doing!?"

He completely ignored her and placed an order with the vendor.

"Two sets of takoyaki."

She looked at the food as he ordered from the man behind the table. In minutes he was given two sets of chopsticks and two Styrofoam boxes, each containing six spheres that looked like dough balls.

"What are you giving me?"

"Just eat it!"

She stuck her tongue out at him before taking a bite of the ball. She looked at the food as she chewed what was in her mouth. The taste was sweet yet tangy, but good. She looked at the remaining bit of food that slipped slowly between her chopsticks. She quickly ate it before it fell.

"Okay, now tell me what I just ate."

"Did you like it?"

"Yes – now tell me."

The two started to walk as he explained to her what she had just eaten. They continued to talk and walk through the crowded festival; completely oblivious to the fact that they had been separated from everyone else. They just continued their rambling without a single argument. It was nice for her to actually not get a glare from him.

"So, wait... You're saying that on your thirteenth birthday, your brother stuffed a goblin in a box and made you stick your hand in it to get your temptaint?" He looked at her as she laughed at the memory.

"Yep. He was fifteen at the time, and it was both Rosie's birthday and mine, and I still didn't have a temptaint at that time so Dom decided to fix that problem." She shook her head. "That day I found out that our house has a guardian that floats around the perimeter of the property." She licked her lips as she continued: "He's actually kinda creepy looking, but a nice demon."

"Geez... to think that your brother is an exorcist."

"Yeah, he can be pretty stupid, but he does have a job to do and he enjoys this type of thing." They walked around a nearby park that was being used as a rest area for many people.

"So tell me, why do you call me by my actual name instead of 'Bon'?"

Ryan smirked as she heard that name.

"Why are you laughing!?"

"I'm not laughing, I'm smirking!" And she couldn't make it go away, either. "And the reason I call you Ryuji is because Bon reminds me of the French pastry."

"A pastry?" He gave her a blank look. "Really?"

"Yeah!" she laughed, "I'm not joking, I had a partner who was French and she would always bring those pastries to class."

"What does that have to do with me?"

She thought for a second before answering.

"Absolutely nothing." Ryuji smiled and shook his head and she laughed. "You can smile?" She acted shocked as she saw his face. "You always look so mean that I thought your face permanently got stuck like that", she teased – and he instantly dropped his smile and glared at her. "Never mind, I was wrong." She walked next to him with her hands swinging at her sides.

"We should get to the lanterns."

Ryan looked at him with a questioning look.

"The what? Where are we going?" She looked over in the sun's direction and watched as it slowly dropped down past the earth. "What are we doing?"

"Shut up and come on."

She just looked at him for a brief second before following him towards the streets. They pushed their way through the crowds and towards the front to see men dressed up in outfits with large bamboo rods that held lanterns on each side of it. As she followed the bamboo rods down to the person carrying it on his shoulder, she was amazed by the idea of them carrying something like that.

"Cool, ain't it?"

She nodded at Ryuji's statement before looking around. It had gotten dark faster than she liked. She checked the time on her phone: it was only 8:50, but it still seemed to get dark fast.

"Something seems off, don't you think?"

Ryan glanced at him with a worried look. She didn't like the dark all that much, even if there were people around. The dark was still the dark.

"What do you mean?" He watched as she looked around for something, or someone. He didn't know what was going on with her, but she was obviously nervous about something. "What's wrong?" There was a long pause, and the music seemed to play louder than before.

"Maybe I'm going crazy..." she mumbled as she relaxed slightly. She didn't find what she was looking for, which was good. She messed with the ends of one of her ponytails and twirled the blue part through her fingers as she watched the men balance the bamboo rods.

After an hour of watching they decided to head back to the hotel, since they were separated from the group hours before. They walked next to each other in silence.

Ryan knew what was coming for her. A long argument with her mother, and when she got home; a long argument with her father. She should have stayed with her sister, but she had fun with the guy. As she thought about it; he wasn't all as bad as she'd judged him to be. When they were talking, he talked about his ambitions and his plans to rebuild his temple and she respected those thoughts of his. Now, if only she could share her thoughts…

As they walked through the doors of the hotel and into the elevator with the silence still following them, she wondered if _he_ was there tonight; watching her with dark eyes that gave her chills. She sighed as she looked up at the digital number at the top of the door.

Ryuji wouldn't say he was worried about the girl currently next to him, but he was curious as to what was bothering her. What was she looking for in the crowd? What caused her to freak out randomly during the performance? He wasn't usually like this; wanting to know more than he should.

The beep of the elevator pulled them out of their thoughts as they looked at each other before walking out into the hall way. Their rooms were the second and third down on the right side, so it was easy to find. Ryan knocked on the door as they heard a bunch of rumbling and rushing around. The door was opened by Rin who was holding a black box of what smelled like take-out.

"Hey, there you guys are!" Her mom looked at Ryan and Ryuji with two bento boxes in her hands. "We were wondering where you guys were." Ryan gave her a blank look. She hadn't really eaten much while she was walking around; just a few things here and there. "You guys get out of those yukatas and join us; we got a movie." Ryan walked in with very weary steps as she grabbed her pajamas from her bag and walked to the bathroom. She smiled as she closed the door.

Today had been a very eventful day.

**. . . **

**Here you guys go. The next chapter**

**Please Review**

**Beta by SuperiorDimwit**


	9. VIII

"_To conquer frustration, one must remain intensely focused on the outcome, not the obstacles."_

_- T.F. Hodge_

**. . .**

**VIII**

**. . .**

August 20th.

A day of infamy.

Actually, it's a birthday, but whatever; same thing.

"Alright!" Rosie cheered as she wrote on the chalkboard; the white chalk slightly screeching as she dragged it across the board. "Today is Bon's birthday and we need time to set up this room." She looked at everyone who either stood or sat in front of her. "Someone needs to find a way to distract him so we can set up."

Shima smiled.

"Well, I stole some stuff from his school bag before he left this morning."

Rosie gave him a thumbs-up.

"Great. I'll hide those in some of his classes before the bell rings." She wrote it down on the board before turning around and looking at Rin. "Are you gonna bake the cake?"

Rin nodded with enthusiasm.

"Yeah! I'll make it all fancy with the frosting."

"Ryan, you got the music."

"Yup." Ryan nodded as she leaned up against the desks. "Anything specific he likes?" She looked at Shima and Koneko.

"We know he likes rock music", Koneko answered. "He listens to it when he goes jogging."

"Anyway! Shima, Koneko: you two have to figure out a way to distract him. That's your only job." Koneko nodded, along with Shima who was not really sure of what he had gotten himself into. "I'll be decorating the room during school hours, but still: work fast." She placed the chalk on the front desk and smiled. "Dismissed."

**. . .**

Ryan sighed as she walked out of the dark halls of the cram school and into fresh air.

"You've got an easy job", Shima complained as he started to figure out what he was supposed to do.

"Not really", she sighed. "Rosie's also making me perform in front of you guys, so I have to find a song that will go well."

"Perform?" Shiemi asked, walking next to Rin.

"Yeah. I play the violin." She pointed to the bag on her shoulders. "I don't carry it around for nothing."

They walked towards the main entrance of the school when they saw an angry-looking Ryuji.

"Shima", he growled in a low tone that even scared Ryan.

"He's all yours." Ryan patted Shima's shoulder and ran off before getting drawn into the argument that was about to go down.

She started to ponder what music she should play, or get. She'd have to use her father's laptop to get anything from the internet, but that was easy since he took it to work with him. Now, it was time to think about what she was gonna get. Some sort of rock music, but she didn't know anything that he liked _specifically_. She groaned as she walked into homeroom. Thinking about this hurt her brain.

"You're here early, Ms. Werstine."

She looked up at her teacher as she set her bags down by her seat.

"If you need me to leave, I can, ma'am."

"No, no, you're fine where you are." She smiled at her before going back to her paperwork. "Usually, kids hang out with their friends before classes start."

"Well, my group started to get... noisy." Ryan sat down and pulled out her notebook.

"Kids can get noisy."

Ryan nodded as she started to doodle in her book. A moment later she heard the door open and close, and looked up to see Shima walk in with a depressed aura around him.

"He lectured you?" she asked as she leaned back in her seat.

"He yelled at me then proceeded to chase and threaten me."

Ryan smirked as she dropped her head.

"He's gonna have one hell of a birthday..."

**. . .**

First, his alarm clock was set incorrectly; then half of his school stuff was taken from his bag. Now he has nothing to write down notes with. It was his birthday for God's sake! Someone cut him some slack!

First block, then second, then to third, then fourth and now lunch. Lunch, meaning he forgot his lunch back at the dorms and everyone was busy doing things. He knew his friends were making up excuses, but before he could ask they were off and running. He could feel slight annoyance creep up his spine as as his glare leveled up beyond its usual intensity.

"Watch it, glare master." He looked over at Ryan who held two brown bags in her right hand. "Your face will permanently get stuck like that if you keep it up." She held out one bag towards him with a blank face.

"What is up with everyone?" he grumbled as he took the lunch bag from her.

"Fuck if I knew. They've been avoiding me as well." Ryan sighed as she started to walk towards the shade of the trees. "You gonna join me or not?" She raised a brow at him as he just stood there in front of her. He shook his head of his thoughts before seating himself near her.

"You made me lunch?"

"Mom made Rosie and I lunch." She pulled out her sandwich. "She's gonna flip shit when she finds out I stole her lunch." She took a bite, and looked at him with her right cheek puffed up with food. He looked at her with a blank expression. "Oh, don't give me that look!" she mumbled through the food as she covered her mouth.

It was weird to him that she didn't get embarrassed over little things like that. Usually girls would blush like crazy, but she just talked to him like a regular person and not some squealing fangirl.

She placed her sandwich on her thigh as she looked through her lunch bag. "Ooh!" She pulled out a bag of cookies. "Mom packed cookies!" She placed them to the side as she pulled out her drink and her bag of chips. Ryuji quit staring and started to look through his bag. A sandwich, a drink, a bag of chips and an apple, and the same kind of cookie-bag that Ryan pulled out.

"So," she looked at him as she rolled up her sandwich bag and threw it in her brown bag, "how's your day been, birthday boy?"

"Pretty shitty", he sighed. "First Shima resets my alarm clock, then he takes all my notebooks." He gritted his teeth and Ryan threw a cookie bit at him.

"Calm down, Freak-show", she called him by his given nickname. "Eat your food before the bell rings." She started to dig through her school bag and pulled out her pencil bag and a small pad of paper. "You can borrow these until you get your crap back."

"It's not crap!"

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Take them, dammit." She placed it in front of him as she started to get up and dust off her legs. She grabbed her cookies and her brown bag, "I need to get going before fifth period starts." She smiled at him. "You're welcome, by the way." She walked off towards the classrooms before he could say anything.

**. . .**

Lunch was over with, and fifth period went by fast. Ryuji walked through the school halls and towards cram school only to be stopped by Duncan.

"Werstine-sensei," he greeted as he looked at him.

"I need you to tell Tsubaki to save a box of chalk for me, if you don't mind."

Ryuji nodded.

"Sure."

"Thank you." Duncan smirked then walked off to who-knows-where.

He walked a ways before he hit the front door to cram school, where he pulled out his key… only to be stopped by Shima.

"Hey, Bon." Ryuji growled at him. "I found your stuff." He saw Shima plaster a cheesy smile on his face, which ticked him off. He snatched his things from Shima's hands and started to walk inside the dark halls. He made his way towards Tsubaki's office to leave Duncan's note.

"Tsubaki-sensei." The man looked up from his paperwork. "Werstine-sensei said to save a box of chalk for him." The man nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind: thank you."

Ryuji was already on his way out when Tsubaki's voice sounded behind him:

"Wait, Suguro!" He looked over his shoulder and at his teacher. Tsubaki got up from his seat with a few folders in hand. "Do you think you can give these to Susan-san for me?"

Ryuji felt his frustration grow as he took the folders.

"Sure." Tsubaki gave him an affirmative nod, and ran out of the room yelling something about a kitten. Ryuji grumbled as he felt a headache grow.

"What am I; the errand boy?"

**. . .**

Rosie looked at her phone as she heard it ring. "Tsubaki got Bon to deliver something to mom."

Ryan looked at her as she was setting up her speakers and loop pedal.

"You know that mom's at home, right?"

"Yes, I know." Rosie glared at her. "She had to bring me another lunch since you stole mine."

"Damn, you're spoiled", Ryan mumbled. "You can _buy_ lunches, you know."

Rosie huffed before getting back to the decorating.

"So what are you doing?" Rin asked as he went to touch the loop pedal.

"Rin, don't touch that." Ryan looked at him as she sat down to fiddle with some plugs. "How would you like it if I messed with your cake?" When she felt satisfied with her work she got up, grabbed her violin, and plugged it in while throwing on her bulky headphones. She let the bow glide across the strings to see if they were in tune. She fiddled with the tuning pegs until she had the right notes.

"You ready?" Rosie asked. Ryan nodded as she continued to play with her strings. "How about you guys?" She looked towards Shiemi and Izumo.

"Almost!" Shiemi said as they hung up the streamers.

"Alright, hurry up! He'll be here any minute."

**. . .**

Ryuji walked into the empty office, frustration and anger obvious on his face. What the hell was going on? He placed the folders on the desk and made his way towards the door. This was so damn annoying on his part. Missing class for some errands that his teachers asked him to do! Why him? Why not someone else?

To think that he was gonna have a good birthday...

Ryuji gave an aggravated sighed as he walked. He looked around every so often to make sure nobody else was gonna bother him about something. Nobody. He relaxed his shoulders as he stuffed his hands in his pockets while making his way towards his next class.

He was gonna get so much shit for being late...

He sighed as he opened the door, "Sorry for being late, sensei..."

His face met with something that knocked him back a little.

"Happy birthday!" He looked around surprised. Streamers were set up and everyone was there with goofy smiles on their faces. He looked in front of him to see Rin standing in front of him with smashed-up cake in his hands.

Rin hit him with cake?

"What the hell, Okumura!?" he yelled as he let out all his frustration.

"Oh don't get your panties in a bunch, Suguro!" He looked over at Ryan who was smirking at him. "We distracted you for a reason."

His anger flared as he cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, really?"

Like the twins they were, Ryan and Rosie both raised their brows as they saw him getting furious.

"Well, that wasn't planned..." Rosie dragged the sentence out as they saw Ryuji be held back by Shima and Koneko. Ryan rolled her eyes as she brought her violin to her shoulder and placed under her jaw. She played a long screeching note; drawing their attention towards her.

"Are you boys done?" Rosie called out as Ryan pulled the violin away. Rosie placed her hand on her hips and gave them a stern look.

"Don't piss her off. She's worse than Ryuji over here", Ryan sighed as she placed her violin on the floor. "Trust me... I know." She walked over to the group of argumentative boys.

"Can we just start the party now!" Rosie exclaimed as she looked at them with puffed-up cheeks.

Rin pulled out the lighter again and lit the now cut cake. Everyone gathered around it, while Shima pushed Ryuji towards it with some of the cake still on his face. The lights were turned off and everyone started to sing Happy Birthday. The cake was sliced and everyone had their conversations. Ryuji got his face cleaned off – but not until after he got back at Rin, which was entertaining for the others.

"So you all avoided me so you could do this?"

"Yup!" Rosie answered as she took another bite of cake. Ryan, meanwhile, pushed away bits of the frosting from her own slice. "Are you gonna eat the frosting?" Ryan looked at her sister and pushed her plate towards her. Rosie scraped up the frosting with her fork and plopped it onto her own.

"Not into sweet things, but she is, so it works." Rosie took a bite of the cake.

"So, what are you guys? I mean, what's the deal with this family of yours?" Rosie and Ryan looked up at Shima.

"We're twins", they answered simultaneously. "Fraternal twins." Everyone stopped mid-chew as they heard them talk at the same time. "Though we are different in some aspects."

"She runs too much." Rosie pointed to Ryan.

"She talks too much." Ryan pointed to Rosie.

"I'm officially confused now", Shima mumbled as he finished his cake. Rosie and Ryan furrowed their brows.

"Why?" they both said with a smirk.

"Stop that!" Ryuji exclaimed as he pointed his fork at them.

"Stop what?" Ryan tried real hard to hide her laughter, but couldn't as she dipped her head and chuckled.

"You never answered my question either", Shima said as he sat back down from throwing away his plate. Ryan stood up, plate in hand.

"That's your job." She walked over to the trash before walking towards her violin.

"Well, I'm sure the internet has told you much about us." Rosie cleared her throat before she continued. "We are the daughters of Duncan Werstine, son of Lilian and Mark Werstine. He is the second youngest in a family of four. Our mother is the daughter of Alma and Rick Cabela. She is the youngest of a family of four."

"You guys are related to Mark Werstine?" Koneko questioned.

"Yeah", Ryan answered this time. "Why?"

"You know papa's a famous Aria."

"Rosie, half of our family consists of Arias", Ryan pointed out. "We own a church back in America."

"Which you get to inherit after you pass your exams." Ryan grumbled at her sister's words. "Only two more Exorcist exams and all of you guys are Exorcists!" Rosie said and clapped her hands. "You know how exciting that is?"

Ryan groaned as she dragged her bow across the stings. A loud screech echoed throughout the classroom, causing everyone to grimace.

"Sorry", Ryan voice dripped with sarcasm, "I was checking my strings."

"Why is that even here?"

Ryan looked at the group in front of her. She took a deep breath and stepped close to her loop pedal. She stepped on is and started to play out the song.

She knew the eyes were on her, and that made her feel uncomfortable but she was too into the moment to actually care. She moved her fingers across the neck of the violin as she stepped on the loop pedal. She placed her bow in her mouth and tapped the strings like a drum before actually playing. When she did, the song came out layer by layer as she added together the melodies and ostinatos she played. She moved her fingers rapidly across the neck, letting her body sway as she moved her right arm. She continued to use her pedal to make the background more in tune to the song.

She looked up every so often, seeing the faces of awe as she played. They were obviously not used to live music like this. No violin, at least.

She played the last few notes before letting it echo on the speaker and dropping her violin from her shoulder.

"Happy birthday!" she said as she raised her arms above her head. They all applauded, but that was soon interrupted when Duncan walked into the room.

"There you guys are..." he mumbled, "I know that you're celebrating a birthday here, but we've got to get you guys ready for your second exorcist exam." He looked around at everyone. "Starting on the 23nd, you will all be attending a week-long mission before the practice exams that follow. If any of you need private classes, you all have my number." Duncan looked at his phone as he tried to think of anything he missed.

"Where are we going?" Ryan asked as she walked over towards the others.

"Aokigahara."

**. . . **

**So here you guys go. ANOTHER chapter before I leave for hell tomorrow(8-14). I start school WAY to early for my liking.**

**I'm not gonna drop this story; i'm too into it to do that, but I hope to have a chapter out every month, maybe every two weeks depending on what I am doing or with SuperiorDimwit is doing. She is my beta after all.**

**Wish me luck along with Dimwit~**

**beta by SuperiorDimwit**

**-Red**


	10. IX

_Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that._

_-Martin Luther King, Jr._

**. . .**

**IX**

**. . .**

Ryan sat next to Rosie in the front of train car number three. She leaned on her armrest as she looked out the window, waiting for the thing to start moving. Her bulky headphones blared classical music as she watched people walk by. She breathed deeply through her nose as she turned to Rosie only to see someone else.

"Shima!" Wide-eyed, she pulled off her headphones. "Dude, don't scare me like that, seriously!"

"Well, you're gonna be in a world of scare when we get to Aokigahara."

Ryan furrowed her brows while Koneko took a seat next to him. Ryuji came in short after and took a seat in the next row; still adjacent to his friends.

"Aokigahara is haunted." Shima stated.

Ryan blinked at him a bit.

"You're fucking with me; I know it."

"It's true", Koneko butted in. "It's haunted by the ghosts of the people who committed suicide there." Ryan's stomach dropped when she heard him say 'suicide'. She gritted her teeth and stood up abruptly, sending her headphones to the ground along with her iPod. She didn't bother picking them up, but walked towards the door to find her father.

"What's her deal?" Shima asked. Ryuji and Koneko watched her storm off through the door. Seconds later, yelling was heard, but it wasn't familiar to their ears.

"_Tell me why you're taking me to a goddamn suicide forest!?_" Ryan yelled as she followed her father into the third car.

"_Look, I didn't have a choice and you know it._" His voice was calm, compared to hers. They could all see Ryan fume with anger.

"_You had a choice; you just refused to take it!_"

"_Ryan, calm down._" Dom came up from behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She jerked away from him.

"Ryan, stop being such a bitch about it."

Ryan glared at her sister. When she spoke, the tone was very familiar to the boys' ears:

"Me, being a bitch about something I'm not comfortable with?" Ryan rolled her eyes as she went to her spot and grabbed her bag. "Whatever..." she stomped off towards the back and away from everyone. She jerked her headphones onto her head and turned up the volume. In the corner of her eye, she saw her father and brother talking while assuming seats a few rows behind the esquires.

Not to long after, Yukio, Rin, Shiemi and Izumo came walking in with bags in hand, and soon the train started to move.

No one dared to come close to Ryan after what had happened. A dark aura surrounded her as she sat in the way back; away from everyone. Rin sat next to Ryuji and chatted with Shiemi.

"We walked in and saw Ryan yelling at Werstine-sensei for some reason."

"Do you know what they were talking about?" Shiemi shook her head.

"No, I couldn't catch anything. They were speaking English, most likely."

"It was scary. Ryan got really loud", Rin pouted at the memory of walking in on the fight. Ryuji glared at Shima.

"You shouldn't have brought it up."

"Why are you glaring at me?! Konekomaru's the one to blame here!" Shima cried out, but nobody listened to it. Ryuji clicked his tongue as he got up from his seat and walked towards the back.

"Is it me, or does Bon seem attached?"

Koneko shrugged.

Ryuji didn't know what got into him. He just seemed to move on his own, like some puppet. He plopped himself down in the seat next to her and continued to read his book. She looked over slowly with a scowl; a dark aura surrounded her and it started to swallow him as well. She pulled off her headphones and spoke sternly:

"You're freaking weird, you know", she pointed out with a sigh. "Why do you always have to get in my bubble?" She sat straight up and looked at the seat in front of her.

"What's gotten you all shaken up?" Ryan looked away as he dropped his book to his lap and looked at her. "Why did you blow up like that?"

"What are you trying to do; interrogate me?" She looked at him with fury in her eyes. "Asking all these questions will get you no where." She pulled her headphones roughly onto her head and turned up the volume. He sighed at the stubborn girl and started to read again, but his mind wouldn't let him focus on it.

What got her all shaken up about Aokigahara? Sure, he was told scary stories about the forest as a child, but he was an esquire now. Yes, he was nervous about the place just like everyone else, but he wasn't about to show it. So, now the only question is: why is she showing such fiery attitude towards this place?

He started to think back to the stories he was told; the ghosts of the dead, demons that persuade you, the silence, the holes in the ground that looked like Hell was staring straight at you. He was told many horrible things about that forest. _Horrible_ things.

He glanced at Ryan, who had her eyes closed and her head leaning against the window as he music blared. _What_ was it that bothered her? And why was his mind so... so concerned about it? What was he doing anyways? He noticed himself more calm around her; it was unusual. He looked away from her and towards the front where everyone else was. They were lounging about, doing nothing but talking quietly amongst themselves. Shima had his "special" books out with Koneko sitting next to him reading something that was most likely similar to the book he was reading. Rin and Shiemi were talking quietly about something that he couldn't understand, and Izumo was just staring out of her window with her headphones in.

"How long is this ride gonna be?" Ryan muttered as she shifted. She rolled her head against the headrest and looked at him with tired eyes.

"Roughly two hours", he said, looking up from his book.

"I'm gonna take a nap." She got comfortable in her seat once again and lulled into sleep.

**. . .**

"Alright, guys." Duncan came up to them, accompanied by a middle-aged man with graying hair. He was short compared to Duncan, but the latter was 6'1".

"This is Mr. Kikuchi. He's going to escort us to the location of the sightings." The group started to walk towards the entrance of the forest, and passed a sign in doing so. She read it briefly, seeing the phrases "Think of your family!" and "Life is a precious thing! Please reconsider!"

Ryan squeezed Rosie's hand when the dry leaves crunched underneath their feet. As Ryan looked around the forest, she saw the trees and roots tangled together. The gnarled roots poked through the ground, then back into it, and then stuck out once more. The trees covered them like a roof would; barely any light was able to fall through the foliage, although it was still bright enough to see. There was no sound of life in the trees, causing a horrible feeling to settle in her stomach. It clenched and rolled and tumbled as she walked with careful steps.

"There have been sightings of demons here that persuade people into committing suicide", Mr. Kikuchi began as they stopped at a closed-off path. "Though some people come here to kill themselves, these demons make their choice come quicker. When we pulled out a young man from here, he said that he saw red eyes in the distance and a voice in the back of his head telling him awful things." He walked over the rope and helped the others get over. "That's why we called you guys." He walked in front of the group. "We opened up a clearing where you can camp. Hopefully, it'll be big enough for your group."

They walked for what felt like hours before they hit the clearing. The ground was cleaned of leaves and debris and you could see the dry dirt. "This was are only spot that didn't have soft soil." Duncan bowed to the man.

"We'll handle the rest from here. Thank you, Mr. Kikuchi." The man nodded and walked back the way they had come. "Alright. Set up camp. Girls, go with Rosie and set up the magic circle and start the fire. The boys will help me set up the tents and prepare dinner." Rosie and Ryan sniggered.

"You are _so _not cooking", Rosie said as she pointed to Rin. "Let that boy cook, and be done." She walked up to his bags and pulled out a small can of paint, a long rope and a huge drafting compass. Everyone started to do their specified tasks before the sun set. The girls finished the circle with ease and were then assigned the task of building a fire.

Ryan and Rosie grabbed near by rocks and built a circle before putting a mush of leaves and twigs in the pit.

"So what do we do now? We have nothing to start it with", Izumo commented as she looked at the twins' handiwork. Ryan gave her a glance before digging into her bag and pulling out her fire steel and flint. She put her hands closed to the leaves and quickly sparked a flame as she struck the materials together. The fire started to crackle as it built up, hungry for more wood. A few minutes later, the fire danced.

"You did well, Ryan." She looked up at her dad and nodded. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah." She looked into the flames, then sat back and enjoyed the warmth they gave off. After a while, everyone had taken seats by the fire, and Rin had started cooking on the table that was set up.

"You've been really quiet", Rosie said as she took a spot next to Ryan.

"I'm listening..." she whispered. Ryan's head started to throb as if someone was knocking from the inside her skull. She looked to her right and out into the dark forest. She couldn't see anything past the trees, and since the sun was down it made it even harder to see.

She continued to stare in that direction; her full concentration focused on that one spot, until something blinked red. The two dots stared at her with deep, following eyes.

"Oh shit!" She jumped up and backed farther away from it. Everyone stared at her in shock as she looked at the red dots.

"_Come here, worthless child..."_ the thing cooed.

"Did you hear that?" She looked at everyone, who were starting to worry. Rin looked around, like he heard something as well.

"Who was that?" Rin asked as he put the knife on the table. They both heard a cackling laughter echo through the forest. Sadistic, psychotic, sickening laughter.

"_Come here, worthless child..." _Ryan looked straight at the red dots. She felt something in her mind burn and her body get tugged towards the demon. She grimaced, feeling her feet walk against her will.

"Gah! Someone's controlling my body!" she heard Rin yell. She imagined he was fighting against it, only better than how she was doing. The sound of people's shuffling feet and others disoriented grunts filled her ears as she felt her body move at an agonizingly slow pace.

"Ryan?" Her name sounded through her ears countless of times. "What's going on?" She felt someone touch her shoulders, causing her to gain control of her body again.

"It's here", she whispered as she stared straight into Rosie's eyes. She heard more of the crazy cackling in her head. "And there's more than just one."

"Rosie, get them inside. Keep them safe. Let me know of _any_ abnormal behavior." Duncan unsheathed his claymore and let it hit the ground. "Gear up, students. Attack anything that isn't supposed to be here." Rosie dragged the four kids into the specified tent, only to be stopped by Ryan's protests.

"Wait!" Ryan jerked away from Rosie. She staggered backwards and looked around. "Just hold on a minute!" Ryan scanned her surroundings. There were six pairs of red, glowing eyes. "Shima, come here for a minute." She grabbed him by his shirt in a frantic motion. She lead him to the red eyes, and the demon got closer to the circle, trying to reach Ryan. "Can you see the red eyes?"

Shima shook his head.

"No, I can't." He looked at her. "Why? Is it right there?"

Ryan looked into the red eyes and shot a heavy glare at the demon. All the others started to gather around that area, trying to grab her.

"Ryan, what's going on?" Duncan asked as he pushed Shima behind him and stood next to his daughter.

"I know what demons these are", she said quietly, "It's a Niwakaame." She turned away from the demons; listening to their hisses and whines. "Though they exist nationwide, they originate from here." She pulled on her bag roughly and started to dig though it. "I remember reading about it in books."

"What are you talking about?" Ryuji butted in, pistol in hand.

"Niwakaame's a specific type of demon that feeds on tragic pasts. The demon goes through your memories one by one until they find a good enough host to take over." She pulled out a notebook and walked towards everyone. "The side effects of them looking though your memories is a minor headache." She started to flip through the pages of the journal; now noticing that her hands were shaking. "They look for humans who have lost a loved one, who are or have been depressed and/or suicidal. They prefer them the most since it's a more interesting pasts."

"So wait," Shima raised his hands and waved them in confusion. "This demon takes over humans who are sad and depressed only to kill them? Why would they do that?"

"They see it as pleasure." She stopped at a page she wrote the notes on and gave it to Duncan.

"But if we have temptaint, and they're demons, why can't we see them?"

"Oh you can see them, they just tuned in on your wavelengths", she said as she went for her rapier and her dagger. "They help commit suicide. They want to keep it that way."

"If you have all this info in your notebooks, then why aren't you passing some of your classes?" Duncan asked her as he looked up from the book.

"Can we talk about that another time, please?" Ryan looked around the group of Niwakaame.

"Wait... so how do we kill them if we can't see them?" Shima mumbled.

"They keep talking about playing a game or something; it's confusing me..." Rin stated blankly as he held his sheathed sword, ready to draw it if needed.

"_We can't get to them..."_

"_We want to play with you, worthless child..."_

"_We have rope..."_

"_We could go swinging..."_

"_Then after we can sleep..."_

"_Sleep sounds nice, right, worthless child...?"_

Ryan grimaced as they talked to her.

"I'm too young for this type of stress..."

**. . .**

**NOTE! - Niwakaame's are of my invention. They are not real whatsoever!  
**

**Yeah! Chapter ten(actually nine but whatever, I have a prologue)! **

**Beta by SuperiorDimwit **


	11. X

_Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness._

_ -Martin Luther King, Jr._

**. . .**

**X**

**. . .**

"_Play is nice..."_

"_Play is fun..."_

"_We have ropes..."_

"_And toy guns..."_

"_And candies..."_

"_And we have a lake we can swim in..." _Ryan squeezed her eyes shut as she moved towards the fire. The night was cold, and it only got colder as the wind whispered though the trees.

"I understand why Werstine-sensei said to wait it out till morning, but morning is taking too long." Ryuji grumbled as he made his way towards Ryan. He sat down next to her as she opened her closed eyes. She stayed quiet; the fire flickering and crackling at her. She didn't feel like talking; too energy consuming. "Not to mention, Rin's getting really annoying..."

She dipped her head and let the corners of her lips curve slightly.

"I can hear his complaints", she mumbled in a rough, scratchy voice. "The voices are getting to him more than me." She continued to keep her voice low as she rolled her head back in a sleepy motion. Whispers echoed through her ears as she continued talking: "So, how are the others?" she asked, wincing at the growing headache.

"Koneko's with Shima, and Izumo is just pretending there's nothing wrong with her." Ryuji clicked his tongue. "Why are you girls so stubborn?"

Ryan smirked at that comment.

"We're only stubborn because males are hormonal skirt-chasers", she stated blankly.

"We are not!" he shot back as Ryan pressed her lips together to keep from laughing, even though he could see the smile forming anyways.

"Lies", she said in a small voice, which irritated Ryuji to the point where he was gritting his teeth. He clicked his tongue before looking back at the fire.

Nobody could do anything constructive until morning came, so everything was at a stand still. Ryan breathed in and out deeply as she stuck her head between knees.

Why was it always her? Why couldn't it be someone else? Why did she always have trouble following her wherever she went?

Ryan sighed. She shouldn't be complaining about things like this. She should be used to problems like these; she lived with people who were natural-born exorcists! Trouble followed her no matter what.

She groaned as she started to stand up.

"I'm going to my tent." She looked away from Ryuji. "If you need me, just yell." She walked over to her tent, disappearing behind the tent flap. She laid down on her sleeping bag and looked at the opposite side of the tent. There were two flaps on this thing.

"Do I really want to do this?" she whispered to herself as she grabbed her rapier, her dagger and a flashlight and crawled her way towards the other side. "Fucking hell... do I have much of a damn choice?" She unzipped the other flap and made her way past the barrier without being noticed. She was gonna be in so much trouble. She wanted them out of her head, and she wanted it now.

**. . .**

"It stopped." Everyone looked at Rin as he spoke out. "Does anyone hear them anymore?"

The other two strained their ears to listen.

"No", Koneko answered, still listening. "They've left completely."

Izumo looked around for the red eyes but found none.

"Do you think that Ryan stopped hearing them, too?" Shiemi asked with a glance at Rosie.

"I don't know..." She looked around. "Where is she?"

"She went to her tent", Ryuji blurted. Rosie walked towards their shared tent and looked inside.

"She's not in here." She looked at the others before looking to her father. "Her weapons aren't here either." Rosie's panic started to well up. "The back's open as well." Duncan looked at his wristwatch and cursed under his breath.

"It's 04:50, but the sun won't be up for another hour." He felt conflicted between the protection of his students and his protection of his daughter. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as she turned around then back towards his students.

Ryuji growled in anger as he glared at the tent. Stupid girl with her stupid logic! He got up from his spot near the fire and grabbed his gun and walked towards the barrier. What was she trying to do; do everything on her own? It was bullshit to him.

"Suguro!" Duncan yelled. "Where the hell do you think you're going?!"

"To teach that damn girl a lesson!" he snatched a flashlight as he passed the coolers.

"Bon!" Koneko and Shima yelled as they watched their friend run off past the barrier and into the forest. Rin grabbed his sword and ran after him, with Rosie and Dominic in tow. Soon enough Koneko and Shima were out; prepared for the worst. Yukio yelled at his brother, only to be ignored. Duncan groaned.

"My students don't listen whatsoever."

**. . .**

Ryuji wasn't in a good mood. Ryan running off caused a lot more problems than anyone really wanted; especially him. He had his prayer beads wrapped around his left palm with his gun readied in his right.

That was the last thing everyone needed; having someone run off in the middle of a partial lockdown. Fucking hell! She was worse than Rin!

"Bon!" He didn't even look over his shoulder as he heard his friends called out to him, "Bon, you don't even know where you're going!" Shit... He actually didn't.

"Fine, then how do you suppose we find her?" he growled as he turned to them. This wasn't a good start for anybody.

"We use a Tracker." Dominic said as he pulled out a little paper. "They're useful familiars." He mumbled a few German words as the smell of wet moss and mud filled their noses. The large toad-like demon chirped as it stood next to his owner. "They're similar to Leapers, but these track people by their emotions instead of attack one with emotions." He walked in front of everyone with the tracker following him. "I'll take front. Stay together, and don't get lost."

That was the last thing they needed.

**. . .**

Ryan looked around her. She was surrounded by the demons. They didn't dare get any closer to Ryan when she held her blades up though. She growled while a splitting headache started to build in the back of her skull. Each one of the demons screeched at her; trying to distract her, but Ryan refused to falter. She continued to fight back, knowing the outcome if she failed to attack.

It would mean her death.

She growled at the thought and shook it her head as she glared at the six demons. Such nuisances. This whole mission was tedious – waiting till morning to attack the fuckers. She wasn't one to wait. God, she needed something else to complain about... Keep her mind off the situation she was in...

"_Little, worthless child wanted to play on the swings",_ it started as it got closer and circled her. _"She took a rope from her father's tool box and tied it to the tree."_ It continued to get closer, and others followed its lead. _"The girl wanted to swing but ended up doing it wrong. So had to do the right." _Ryan dropped her weapons as she felt one of them grab her by the arms. Her body went limp while it dragged her back towards a tree and she screamed in agony as she felt something snap in her arm. Pain shot it's way up her back as she was slammed into the trunk.

"_Stubborn girls deserve to die!"_

**. . .**

Rin and Koneko looked around.

"You heard that, right?" Koneko asked as he looked at Rin.

"What?" Rosie asked as she looked at him with concern. "What is it?"

"We heard them talking." Koneko said while Rin continued to look around. He looked to his left then to his right then to the left again before going right. He had a feeling; a hunch that she was near here if they heard them. He heard the shouts of his friends as he jumped over fallen stumps and dodged trees. He unsheathed his blade and attacked the first one in his sight. The thing screeched as it let go of Ryan; who simply thumped to the ground in a dazed state.

Dom reacted next, calling back his tracker and calling one of his Salamanders. The large reptile roared as it attacked the next one. Though they couldn't see the Niwakaame, the demon familiars could. The salamander took one out with one strong snap of its jaw and then went to the others.

Ryan was looking at Rin; confused of the blue flames that engulfed his body.

"Ryan!" She looked over to the voice. "We gotta get outta here!" Shima yelled as he skidded to a halt next to her. She felt a dark aura coming towards her, and she shrunk a little when _he_ came near her.

"Can we talk about this later?" she asked loudly. More screeching sounded through her brain and she grabbed her head and grunted. Ryuji growled as he picked her up and dragged her out of the commotion. "Watch it!" she yelped as she felt a sharp pain run through her arm. He simply put his arm around her waist and picked her up as he ran out of the area. "I can walk!" No, she couldn't, but she really didn't want to be picked up. Especially since he was holding her bridal style. It wasn't fair.

"You're an idiot!" he yelled as he tried to keep his footing while running though the thick forest. Shima followed behind them but kept his distance.

"Put me down, you're gonna trip!" And he did. The two went flying forward; rolling in the dirt, grime, and leaves as Shima came up.

"How do you two manage to do tha-"

"Shima!" Ryan yelled as she got up. "Behind you!" Shima turned to see nothing, but was thrown against a tree. Ryan looked at the demon's bright red eyes and glared.

"Don't aggravate it!" Ryuji yelled, but Ryan blocked him out as the bitch of a demon talked to her.

"_Why don't you just die!"_

The thing flew at her, and Ryan was ready for the demon, but the demon wasn't ready for the unexpected.

A black figure, almost similar to the Niwakaame, attacked it and slammed it against the dirty ground and against the trees, breaking several branches. It screeched in the Niwakaame's face before ripping its head off in a fit of rage. It turned to Ryan on instinct and floated its way towards her.

"Ryan!" Ryuji yelled as he tried to get up, but Ryan held out her hand at him.

"It's fine. Stop yelling." She didn't even look at him as the dark form floated up to her and kneeled down in front of her.

"Ryan", it said blankly.

"Caballarius", Ryan said with a smile. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

"Same", she heard the smile in his voice.

"Caballarius!" Ryan and the demon familiar looked over as Duncan came through the bushes. "Go deal with the others."

"Yes." The thing flew off quickly in the direction of the other demons while Duncan dealt with his daughter.

"What the hell were you thinking!?" he scolded her, trying to help her up. Ryuji got up from his spot, grunting in pain as he went over to Shima. "You could've gotten killed!" Ryan chuckled and winced.

"That was the plan", she said with sarcasm dripping from her tongue.

Duncan jerked on her unbroken arm, and she yelped and seethed.

"Stop being impulsive!"

Ryan glared at her father.

"No."

Duncan glared back at her before dragging her back to the campgrounds, leaving the rest to themselves. Caballarius was with them. They would be fine.

"You're going back home. I don't care what you say."

Ryan gawked at him.

"You can't do that!"

"Yes, I can!" he commandeered over Ryan's groans as she limped behind him. "You're injured anyways, and you're on the verge of have a panic attack. I know you, Ryan."

Not this shit again.

"Yeah, sure you do..." she grumbled.

**. . .**

"Hope you get better!" Shiemi said as she looked at the sling supporting Ryan's arm.

"I do, too", she muttered as she walked away from the blonde and with the same escort from before.

"I contacted you mother. She'll be waiting for you." Ryan nodded at her father's words. "Stay safe, okay?" Ryan looked at him before smiling.

"I'm always safe." She adjusted her bag and walked away with the man, waving at the group. "Don't get killed, guys!" She gave a fake smile as she walked off.

She felt like such a disgrace.

**. . .**

**Here's the next chapter.**

**Beta by SuperiorDimwit**


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